Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, May 12 (game #473)
It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints – now with added Daily Sequence answers!
Yes, that’s right: the makers of Quordle have a new game, which sees you complete four Wordle puzzles consecutively. The twist is that the letters you’ve already used on the first game are repeated on the second and so on.
It’s good fun, but also difficult – so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you’ll probably need some for Quordle and the Daily Sequence too.
I’m a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who’s been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #473 and the answers to the Daily Sequence.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
Marc is TechRadar’s UK Editor in Chief and has been playing Wordle and Quordle for more than a year. He’s authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom’s Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in every position. His Wordle streak recently reached the 450 mark and he’ll be inconsolable if he loses it. Yes, he takes it all too seriously.
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #1 – Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #2 – total vowels
What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?
• The total number of vowels across today’s Quordle answers is 6.
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #3 – repeated letters
Do any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #4 – total letters
How many different letters are used in Quordle today?
• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 13.
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #5 – uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #6 – starting letters (1)
Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?
• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #473) – hint #7 – starting letters (2)
What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?
• H
• C
• D
• C
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #473) – the answers
The answers to today’s Quordle, game #473, are…
Today’s Quordle might be the easiest I’ve ever played. Yesterday’s was pretty simple, but today’s was such a breeze that I’m actively hoping for a tougher challenge tomorrow.
Much of this was luck: my strategy is to play three set words each day at the start (STARE, DOILY, PUNCH) and today they gave me all five letters for three of the answers and four for the other by the end of that third guess. I simply had to solve three anagrams then find the one missing letter (the repeated C in CYNIC) in order to complete the puzzles.
Admittedly, this method will only get me so far – I’ll never score higher than a 7/9 this way, because I’m using up three guesses at the start. I could push myself harder and only begin with two set words in order to try to score a 6/9; maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.
On the Daily Sequence, meanwhile, things remained tough for the first guess but easy enough after that. The key here is definitely to expect an uncommonly spelled word at the beginning, then gather more info about it while using up letters that might be helpful further on in the game. Or at least that’s my plan thus far.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Daily Sequence today (game #473) – the answers
The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #473, are…
Quordle answers: The past 20
- Quordle #472, Thursday 11 May: CRYPT, DUNCE, WHEEL, NOBLE
- Quordle #471, Wednesday 10 May: PRINT, VICAR, GAFFE, PLAIT
- Quordle #470, Tuesday 9 May: PROSE, MUNCH, PIVOT, CONDO
- Quordle #469, Monday 8 May: PUSHY, GRIPE, BLOAT, ASSET
- Quordle #468, Sunday 7 May: TOOTH, SKULK, BRISK, SLOSH
- Quordle #467, Saturday 6 May: SCALD, TABBY, STYLE, TEASE
- Quordle #466, Friday 5 May: LIMBO, REVUE, TOTEM, ELBOW
- Quordle #465, Thursday 4 May: BALER, SCORN, FETID, PASTE
- Quordle #464, Wednesday 3 May: GODLY, LAGER, STEEL, GROWL
- Quordle #463, Tuesday 2 May: CROSS, MOULT, STAIN, TATTY
- Quordle #462, Monday 1 May: ETHIC, ALIKE, BIRTH, SLAIN
- Quordle #461, Sunday 30 April: STOUT, GROUT, RALPH, RIGOR
- Quordle #460, Saturday 29 April: SCOUR, BLUSH, WHINE, ELIDE
- Quordle #459, Friday 28 April: TRITE, SLEEK, ALTAR, VOTER
- Quordle #458, Thursday 27 April: QUASI, PLUSH, CHUTE, SOAPY
- Quordle #457, Wednesday 26 April: PARKA, SPINY, BUSHY, CHAIR
- Quordle #456, Tuesday 25 April: CREST, SHRUB, CREDO, BELOW
- Quordle #455, Monday 24 April: DEUCE, BEAST, NOISY, YOUNG
- Quordle #454, Sunday 23 April: FALSE, LUSTY, EMPTY, FLESH
- Quordle #453, Saturday 22 April: LIMIT, IRONY, TERRA, ARBOR
Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know
What is Quordle?
Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar.
It’s played online via the Quordle website (opens in new tab) and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site (opens in new tab), after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year.
As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.
The website also includes a practice mode – which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! – and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements – specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.
Oh, and it’s difficult. Really difficult.
What are the Quordle rules?
The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…
4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two.
5. Answers are never plural.
6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.
8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle’s Hard mode.
9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.
10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.
What is a good Quordle strategy?
Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.
That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.
There are two key things to remember.
1. Use several starting words
Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words.
The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.
For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.
If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!
2. Narrow things down
Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options.
In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.
In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.