Wordle hint and answer #617: Sunday, February 26

Congratulations, you’re about to win today’s Wordle (opens in new tab). Whether you want to rush straight to the daily answer, get a helpful little nudge from today’s clue, or spend some time reading a guide designed to not only make the February 26 (617) Wordle but every Wordle more successful is entirely up to you.

Well, that was very nearly a disaster. I found the first slot’s green nice and early, but all the yellows I came across along the way just didn’t seem to fit. I ended up winning mostly because I had nothing else left to try rather than because I’d actually figured it out.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Sunday, February 26

Any edible thick, sweet, liquid-like substance could be referred to as today’s answer. Maple, golden, and even cough, variants of this word are commonly found worldwide. 

Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

No, you won’t find any double letters in today’s puzzle.  

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

Anyone can pick up and play Wordle, but if you want to do it well and make all of your guesses count, these quick tips will help get you started on your Wordle winning streak: 

  • Choose an opener with a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants. 
  • The answer may contain the same letter, multiple times.
  • Try not to use guesses that contain letters you’ve already eliminated. 

Thankfully, there’s no time limit beyond ensuring it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Sometimes stepping away for a while means you can come back with a fresh perspective. 

Today’s Wordle answer

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

What is the Wordle #617 answer?

Start the weekend with a win. The answer to the February 26 (617) Wordle is SYRUP.

Previous answers

The last 10 Wordle answers 

Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated. 

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

  • February 25: FIFTY
  • February 24: ARBOR
  • February 23: VAGUE
  • February 22: RIPER
  • February 21: RUDDY
  • February 20: SWEAT
  • February 19: KIOSK
  • February 18: AVAIL
  • February 17: CACHE
  • February 16: MAGIC

Learn more about Wordle 

Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.

You should start with a strong word (opens in new tab) like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.

You’ll want your next guess to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you might have missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. After that, it’s simply a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the correct word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words and don’t forget letters can repeat too (eg: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips (opens in new tab), and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above. 

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle (opens in new tab), refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures (opens in new tab). Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. 


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Dragon Age: Origins deserves remaster with ‘extra-realistic slimy nipple textures’, says lead writer

“If we’re on a kick re-mastering games from the aughts,” David Gaider, lead writer of all three Dragon Age games, mused on Twitter (opens in new tab), “what about Dragon Age Origins? Its graphics were behind the curve even at the time of release… can you imagine it with brand new PS5-era bells and whistles? 🥳”

We’ll forgive the PS5 mention to treat this question with the seriousness it deserves. Following the well-received remake of 2008’s Dead Space, and with remakes of 2003’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, 2005’s Resident Evil 4, and 2007’s first Witcher game all on the way, it sure does seem to be the period’s time. Though Gaider suggested a remaster rather than a remake, there’s a fine line between the two, as another former BioWare staffer, Mark Darrah, explained (opens in new tab).

Dragon Age: Origins would be a fine candidate for either. While the 2009 RPG runs on modern PCs it doesn’t do so without issue, and a version where the text isn’t too small to read at high resolutions would be a blessing. It could benefit from plenty of quality-of-life improvements too, like a toggle for hiding party members’ helmets and an option to have the dog as a companion without having to leave someone else behind to do so.

Of course, improved graphics would be nice as well, even if they didn’t go for fully ray traced shadows as you sit around the campfire taking turns to ask everyone inappropriate personal questions. “Even Inquisition-level graphics would be great!” Gaider said. “Look, all I want is for Morrigan to not have the shoulders of a linebacker and for the sex scenes to not look like someone bashing marionettes together and shouting ‘now kiss!'”

Since this conversation happened on Twitter, Gaider was immediately informed that it’s OK for women to have shoulders like linebackers, so he made the following clarification: “All female models in DAO used the male animation rig. I thought this looked esp odd on Morrigan, whose unique model had a very slender frame and was altered (particularly at the shoulders) to match. I can’t unsee the change. No other implications intended. 😅

“Did Morrigan still look great in DAO? Sure. Could there have been more body types throughout DA for both sexes, including even broader shoulders? That would have been great, but the modelers and animators were limited by the variety of rigs available. Simply how it was, folks.”

And, yes, someone replied to idly speculate about the broodmother—a huge naked ghoul who gives birth to Darkspawn encountered in Origins’ Dead Trenches—and just what she’d look like with 2023 graphics. “Just think: extra-realistic slimy nipple textures”, Gaider said in response.

(Image credit: EA)

Given that EA published a remastered version of the Mass Effect trilogy in 2021, the idea of giving the early Dragon Age games a similar treatment has been brought up before. Gaider himself previously discussed his ideas for a Dragon Age 2 Snyder Cut. A Dragon Age remaster isn’t that likely to actually happen, however. As Gaider says, “I suspect EA would only do it if they thought it would sell like *gold-plated* hotcakes. They’ve… never really gotten DA, or understood why it sold better than Mass Effect, was my impression.”

BioWare’s Dragon Age team is currently busy with Dreadwolf, though the latest developer blog doesn’t tell us much about it in favor of explaining its thinking on skill tree design. Having left BioWare in 2016, David Gaider is working on Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, which is due for release in 2023.

If you’re planning a Dragon Age replay, you should probably just remaster it yourself by picking from this selection of the best Dragon Age: Origins mods.



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Blood Bowl 3 devs address complaints, hand out free stuff

After multiple delays and an early unlock period that was marred by game-breaking bugs, Blood Bowl 3 launched on February 24. In spite of fixes for the most egregious issues, like the servers straight-up not working, it’s currently sitting at a user rating of Mostly Negative on Steam (opens in new tab). Only 27% of user reviews are positive.

The Blood Bowl team responded to complaints with a community update, promising to address the main issues players are having. Firstly, the remaining bugs. “The functionality of the game is our main priority and rest assured we will do our best to address any bugs or broken elements as soon as we can,” they said.

Next, they moved on to complaints about monetization. While Blood Bowl 3 lets players customize team colors and emblems, individual player options like helmets and shoulderpads are only available in a shop where they have to be paid for with in-game currency called warpstone. (While warpstone is not on sale yet, bringing up a blank page in the store, customers who paid an extra $US20 for the Brutal Edition got 1,000 warpstone as part of the package.)

“This is something we tried to communicate ahead of the launch, but we intend to implement features allowing players to be rewarded either with cosmetic items or Warpstone through play as well as purchase,” the team said. “We know that we will probably not be able to convince all of you but we truly believe that our system is fair, rewarding and optional and that’s understandable.”

There will be two ways to earn warpstone and free cosmetics, they explain. First, by leveling up your coach through winning games, and the second via earning xp for completing tasks in seasonal content, whether in singleplayer or multiplayer. The thing is, neither of those ways of earning stuff is currently in Blood Bowl 3. A previous blog post (opens in new tab) mentioned that coach leveling will be part of “an upcoming patch” and Season 1 doesn’t start until May 25.

That’s via the roadmap (opens in new tab), which shows three seasons planned for 2023. Each season comes with a Blood Pass, which players familiar with other games’ Season Passes will recognize. It’ll have a free tier that hands out rewards as you level your way up it, and a paid tier that hands out more rewards as well as several instant unlocks. In Blood Bowl 3 those instant unlocks will include one new team per season, meaning that if you pay for the Blood Pass you get that season’s team immediately while other players can earn them by hitting max level before a three-month season ends.

(Image credit: Nacon)

While it’s nice to know vanity gear can be unlocked for free, and that apparently includes “not only players’ parts, but also pitches, grandstands, coaches, cheerleaders, balls and dugout among other things”, the complaints aren’t just about monetized customization existing. They’re about how it’s implemented: whether you buy or earn an item, it can only be applied to one player. That kneepad for your blitzer has to be bought again if you want more than one member of your team to wear it.

That’s galling because, while Blood Bowl 2 had an in-game store that sold jersey designs for a currency called cyans, they were for entire teams rather than individuals. And while that game had only a small variety of head options and the like, at least they were available from the start rather than having to be paid for or earned. 

Blood Bowl 3’s more extensive customization options were repeatedly highlighted during development, complete with a slick gif showing off how much an orc’s armor could be changed, without a hint it would have to be unlocked until the season system was finally explained in December (opens in new tab).An orc's armor is changed piece by piece

(Image credit: Nacon)

Having factions available for free if you don’t mind working through the unpaid tier of the Blood Pass will make players who complained about previous Blood Bowl games selling teams as DLC happy. However, dataminers have found files related to upcoming teams like Wood Elves, Lizardmen, and Shambling Undead, and some players have suggested that these teams are complete and being held back for the sake of seasonal content.

The developers addressed this, saying that, “As we’re sure you understand, the development of a game is complex. The factions we plan to release for Blood Bowl 3 are still under development each at varying degrees of completion” and that even the one that’s closest to completion has “a lot of testing and validation” still to do. 

They also address an error that resulted in players who purchased the regular version being given the Brutal Edition upgrade, which comes with free cosmetics for the Black Orc and Imperial Nobility teams as well as 1,000 warpstone. While the cosmetics are being taken away from players who didn’t pay for the upgrade, they’ll get to keep the warpstone, and everyone who did pay for the Brutal Edition will get an extra 1,000. Those who participated in the particularly buggy early unlock period will get an extra 250 warpstone on top.

(Image credit: Nacon)

While the update also apologized for server issues, and pointed to the latest patch notes (opens in new tab) to show what had been fixed, other issues went unaddressed. For instance, the fact that basic features are listed as “improvements” to come with future seasons. The ability to resume an online match after a dropout isn’t coming until Season 2 in August, alongside replay and spectator modes, with crossplay and the full set of star player special rules relegated to Season 3 in November.

The unexplained mention of a “pause system” as an improvement due in August has also resulted in a number of complaints, though it should be noted you actually can pause the game in its current version by pressing Escape in a singleplayer game, or pressing the pause button that appears in multiplayer. Presumably the “pause system” refers to something more complete, since as it stands you can’t read over the log while paused, and in multiplayer your opponent can unpause at any time.

Other complaints have included the lack of an option to save mid-game in singleplayer, the lack of admin tools for private leagues, the fact mutations aren’t visible on player models (something they’ve said on Discord won’t be changed), the menus (which lack sections for tracking your teams’ history and stats, and don’t let you spend money or star player points between tournament matches without quitting back out), the speed of the UI (which moves on from things like kickoff events and the AI’s block dice selection too quickly to keep up with), and that, despite promised improvements to the AI, it’s still so afraid of passing the ball you’d think it’s phobic.

(Image credit: Nacon)

To be fair, programming an AI to play a game as chaotic as Blood Bowl is such a challenge that following a 2019 paper declaring it “the next grand board game challenge for AI” (opens in new tab) there’s an annual competition called Bot Bowl (opens in new tab) to create an AI that can actually play it well. And Blood Bowl 3 does improve on Blood Bowl 2 in some ways, like an uncapped framerate rather than a hard 60 fps limit, better-looking pitches with more variety in their crowds, having coaches in the dugout who can argue the call when a player is sent off, and being based on the rules of the board game’s current edition.

It’s just frustrating that after announcing it would be delayed until it was ready rather than going through early access, Blood Bowl 3 feels incomplete. Even promised features like special play cards are missing, just an empty submenu for them, and the singleplayer campaign tournaments end without celebration or fanfare, shunting you straight back to a menu. Meanwhile, you’ll hear commentators repeat lines almost immediately, sometimes the same ones from Blood Bowl 2, and the tutorial doesn’t explain things like Prayers to Nuffle, sponsors, how to spend star player points, or bother teaching new players basic concepts like “safe moves first.”

Blood Bowl 3 feels like yet another live-service game that should have been called an early access one. According to the roadmap we’re currently in the “pre-season” and will be until May 25, when Season 1’s arrival will coincide with an official ladder and improvements to “in-match readability and optimization”. Maybe then it’ll feel like it’s ready for the kickoff.


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Yeah, it’s time to replay Elden Ring

It’s Elden Ringmas, the one year anniversary of our 2022 GOTY (opens in new tab)‘s launch, and I’m here to tell you it’s time for a replay. Wake up, Tarnished, we’ve got an Erdtree to burn, these 107 unique bosses (opens in new tab) aren’t gonna beat themselves!

My first Elden Ring character is one of my favorite guys I’ve ever made in an RPG⁠—I started with the Samurai class, and opted for a sort of Sekiro shinobi look with dual katanas (including my beloved Moonveil) and the surprisingly stylish altered Preceptor Robes. When I finally beat the game after 100 hours, all I wanted was to keep going with this same guy in New Game Plus, but therein lies a problem: the supposed expansion pack.

The lonely DLCwatch (opens in new tab) continues, an echo of the long wait for Elden news after that first cinematic trailer in 2019. FromSoft expansions are often the best parts of their respective games, the studio let off the leash to create something wild and surprising in a context they’re already familiar with. When the best part of Elden Ring finally arrives (and I do think it’s still coming, even one year later) I want my #1 best boy to be ready to experience it day one, and not with souped-up megahard NG+ versions of all its enemies.

So, time to make some new guys, and I think this was a blessing in disguise. Even with overpowered outliers like Comet Azur, the Blasphemous Blade, or, I can’t deny it, Moonveil hogging all the spotlight, there are so many viable ways to play Elden Ring. It demands experimentation with alternative builds and playstyles. 

This is demonstrated masterfully by the YouTuber Ongbal (opens in new tab), who’s made a series of videos showcasing an almost virtuoso playstyle switching between disparate weapons mid-fight in the far reaches of NG+7. Just a month after launch I tore through most of it again with a strength build-adjacent guy⁠—Bernahl’s Beast Champion Armor makes for a great fit, and Blaidd’s Royal Greatsword is one of Fromsoft’s best interpretations of its “big ole’ Guts sword” weapon category.

I’ve been having more fun with my third run though, thanks to one weapon: Eleonora’s Poleblade. The Darth Maul wannabe twinblade weapon category was an inspired addition to Dark Souls 2, and like so many ideas from that game, it reached its full potential in Elden Ring. Much as I love the idea of going full General Grievous with dual twinblades, I think single weapon, two-handed is the way to go here⁠—it’s a phenomenally satisfying moveset, and the crazy Jedi flip weapon art is difficult to time correctly, but oh-so-satisfying when you pull it off.

And after almost 200 hours in this game, I’m still finding stuff I missed: Stillwater Cave, Sainted Hero’s Grave, Tomsbsward Catacombs, and I’m sure even more areas all flew under my radar the first time around. Paradoxically, I couldn’t help but stumble into the Three Fingers Frenzied Flame side quest that first playthrough, and the path to Elden Ring’s crazy hidden, crazy evil ending is well-worth seeing if you haven’t. So too is its potential reversal with Miquella’s Needle, an obscure sidequest that unites disparate plotlines ranging from Milicent’s story to the history of Farum Azula.

So join me in returning to the Lands Between, I don’t think you’ll be sorry. There’s bound to be something you missed or an alternate path for you to take. You won’t catch me choosing anything but the Age of Stars ending though⁠—no one can convince me it’s not the only actually happy ending, and it looks like most other players agree (opens in new tab). I just caught the other ones on YouTube⁠—that Frenzied Flame ending is a bummer.


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Police discovered a secret crypto-mining operation beneath a US high school

Authorities in Massachusetts have brought to trial a man who allegedly ran a cryptocurrency mining operation out of the crawlspace beneath a high school in Cohasset, a small coastal town about 20 miles outside of Boston. The operation was discovered in late 2021 by a by a town employee who noticed electrical wires and temporary ductwork in an “elevated crawl space” nearby the school’s boiler room.

The narrow crawlspace contained what appears to be two sets of specialized mining rigs, one cluster of five and another of six computers, according to photos released by the Cohasset Police Department. The equipment was patched into the school’s electrical system and was housed in several coolers with ducts venting hot air to the outside.

Police’s primary suspect in the crime is one Nadeam Nahas, who worked for the Town of Cohasset as an HVAC coordinator and assistant facilities director from January 2021 until early 2022. Court records say the operation ran from April to December 2021 and cost about $17,500 in electricity, reports the Boston Globe (opens in new tab).

In a statement to the BBC (opens in new tab), Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said that after the operation was reported by the facilities director, “Detectives interviewed the director, who said that during a routine inspection of the school he noticed electrical wires, temporary ductwork, and numerous computers that seemed out of place.” 

Authorities have said that Nahas made references to crypto on a Twitter account, and investigators have found receipts for purchases at hardware chain Home Depot including “coleman 48qt coolers, insulated flex ducts, extreme weather foil, insulation sleeves, and a water-based sealant tub, all items located in the crawl space and used to facilitate the mining operation,” according to the police report.

At the time of the initial investigation, Nahas and the town’s facilities director told detectives they had shut off the computers due to the amount of heat generated. The subsequent investigation that resulted in charges against Nahas involved assistance from the US Coast Guard and its parent organization, the Department of Homeland Security.

Crypto-mining equipment recovered from the school crawlspace. Cohasset Police Department. (Image credit: Cohasset Police Department)

Nahas was brought before the court on Friday, February 24, where he entered a plea of not guilty to a pair of charges connected to the mining operation: fraudulent use of electricity and vandalising Cohasset High School. Nahas will be due back in court on May 17.

We summarized last year’s news highlights in the crypto space as a series of collapses, failures, and straight-up fraudsters. I’m glad that this year has, so far, been a competition for the same: this trial, the world’s first crypto energy drink, some bean guys getting hacked, repainted mining GPUs on the market, and the FBI confirming that, yeah, North Korea keeps stealing lots of crypto.


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It looks like EA is already considering Dead Space 2 and 3 remakes

First spotted by VGC (opens in new tab), Gloomwood (opens in new tab) developer Dillon Rogers shared screenshots of a purported EA survey gauging interest in remakes of Dead Space’s sequels. The horror aficionado in question naturally checked “extremely interested.”

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The ’08 original saw a highly-regarded sequel in 2011, with a more mixed response for 2013’s Dead Space 3 (God, 2013 is already 10 years ago). The series went on ice until January of this year when EA Motive released its Dead Space 1 remake.

The 2023 interpretation of the events aboard the USG Ishimura was an absolute dinger, with PC Gamer’s Sean Martin calling it “definitive” and “an intense, momentum-driven experience” in his review (opens in new tab). Indeed, Sean’s only big gripe with the game was that, with all this effort and new technology, Motive wasn’t just allowed to make a Dead Space 4.

That wouldn’t necessarily be out of the cards if EA wants to remake 2 and 3 though. It’s a big company, and I could see the series’ new lease on life encouraging EA to commit multiple studios to a selection of projects. As for Motive, it’s currently working on a singleplayer Iron Man game (opens in new tab), though the developer’s creative director, Roman Campos-Oriola, did leave the door open for the possibility of more Dead Space from the studio when talking to VGC: “I cannot speak for the other project, but what I can say is that it’s not uncommon to have studios with multiple projects. Especially in big companies like EA.”



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Selling 2 million copies in 24 hours, Sons of the Forest is definitely a hit

Cooperative survival and also survival horror game Sons of the Forest (opens in new tab) has been an historic launch for developer Endnight, with the announcement that the game had sold over 2 million copies within the first 24 hours of its Early Access release. The developer took to Twitter (opens in new tab) to celebrate, thanking “those who have joined us in our Early Access journey” and saying the team at Endnight was “very excited for what we have in store for players in the coming weeks.”

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Despite having what I imagine to be a comedically minuscule fraction of the marketing budget, Sons of the Forest even has more Steam players than behemothic Hogwarts Legacy (opens in new tab). Hoglegs peaked at 306,615 players today, while SotF peaked at 411,999, according to SteamDB. That’s not to compare the two, because there’s really no point in comparing them based on Steam stats alone, but to emphasize the magnitude of a home-grown hit on Steam.

The team here at PC Gamer has certainly had their own fun with it, from writing a variety of guides to pronouncements on the very state of gaming itself. For example, Lauren Morton declares (opens in new tab) Kelvin to be the “new best boy of video games.” Sarah James, meanwhile, has been scarred for life by Big Head Mode (opens in new tab).

If you’re looking to set off on a hellish island journey, either on your own or with friends, we’ve got a nice set of starter tips for Sons of the Forest (opens in new tab). These are handy tips like “the inventory screen is bigger than you think” and “press E to eat” and “don’t kill Kelvin.”

The first The Forest was for many an unexpected hit, a game that came from not only a tiny four person team but managed to stand out among the many, many survival and crafting games of the mid-2010s. “It’s an exciting time to be a PC gamer when a team of just four can create a game that’s this impressive,” said PC Gamer’s Andy Kelly at the time (opens in new tab).

For my part, The Forest will always be the first game I remember making you carry around whole logs if you wanted to make something out of wood. It’s a little touch that emphasized how much work it actually is to build things by hand, as opposed to the magic poof of most crafting games.

You can find Sons of the Forest on Steam (opens in new tab) in Early Access, where it’s $30.



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Overwatch confirms Christ Jesus is better at deflecting missiles than ninja-cyborg Genji

An Overwatch player messing around outside the boundaries of the map has discovered that the statue of Jesus Christ on Rio de Janeiro map Paraíso miraculously reflects all projectiles aimed at it with unerring accuracy. This is as opposed to Overwatch’s vaunted cyborg-ninja Genji, whose ability to deflect projectiles lasts at most a mere two seconds and must be used by players with perfect timing. The discovery was posted by user OmicronGaming to Reddit (opens in new tab).

The Jesus statue on Paraiso (OoB) deflects any projectiles that are shot at it with an invisible barrier from r/Overwatch

The explanation for this is of course that it is a miracle, an act of divine providence by God to protect the world-famous statue Christ the Redeemer, or Cristo Redentor in the local Portuguese language.

Indeed, as evinced in the video, Christ’s divine protection extends not just to the statue itself but to the mountain it sits upon, Corcovado. In the video the player, as flying and rocket-launching hero Pharah, fires a swarm of rockets as well as individual missiles at the statue from far above the map. Every one is sent off at what appears to be an oblique angle. Presumably God could reflect the projectiles right back at you, like Genji can, but in His mercy chooses not to.

Genji, whose abilities include the Cyber-Agility to rapidly scale vertical surfaces and change directions mid-jump as well as the potent power to unleash the “Dragonblade” and end his foes, is certainly hampered in his ability to perfectly deflect all projectiles—he is, despite his enhanced nature, merely a man. Genji’s mortal nature precludes such perfection as can be found in Christ Jesus, the son of God.

All comedy aside, it’s not surprising that the relatively lighthearted Overwatch prevents players from desecrating a statue with religious significance to many of the world’s approximately 2.4 billion Christians. Likely for the best, though as commenters were quick to point out such protection doesn’t extend to the Churches of the King’s Row map, nor the Notre Dame in the Paris map.

This is of course not the first appearance of Cristo Redentor in a videogame. Cristo Redentor has had a prominent role in the Civilization series since 2005’s Civilization 4, and has previously appeared as a landmark in the Call of Duty series.


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Wordle hint and answer #616: Saturday, February 25

Solve today’s Wordle (opens in new tab) in a flash with our wide range of hints, tips, and practical advice. Find guidance with the February 25 (616) clue, brush up on your general Wordle knowledge with our guides and archive of past answers, or skip straight to the good stuff and read today’s answer—it really is up to you.

A good guess that turns over five greys may be a lot of practical help, bringing focus to my Wordle and definitively ruling out several avenues of inquiry, but it doesn’t do a whole lot for my confidence, especially when it’s halfway down the board. 

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Saturday, February 25

Today’s answer is nice and straightforward. You’re looking for a multiple of five today, specifically one at the higher end of common school multiplication tables.

Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

Yes, there is a double letter in today’s puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success: 

  • A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants. 
  • A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
  • The solution may contain repeat letters.

There’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. 

Today’s Wordle answer

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

What is the Wordle #616 answer?

Let’s keep winning. The answer to the February 25 (616) Wordle is FIFTY.

Previous answers

The last 10 Wordle answers 

The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today’s Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that’s already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

  • February 24: ARBOR
  • February 23: VAGUE
  • February 22: RIPER
  • February 21: RUDDY
  • February 20: SWEAT
  • February 19: KIOSK
  • February 18: AVAIL
  • February 17: CACHE
  • February 16: MAGIC
  • February 15: SALSA

Learn more about Wordle 

Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it’s up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.

You’ll want to start with a strong word (opens in new tab) like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.

You’ll want your second go to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer.

After that it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips (opens in new tab), and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above. 

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle (opens in new tab), refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures (opens in new tab). Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. 


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Overwatch 2 director confirms what we already knew: the ‘meta’ isn’t all that important

Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller has been doing something pretty neat lately: talking about Overwatch 2. The de facto voice of Blizzard on matters of Overwatch recently made it a goal to communicate with players more often about the current state of the game, and the man is on a roll. So far with his “Director’s Take” series, Keller has written about ranked woes (opens in new tab), the future of Arcade mode, and the failed experiment that is map pools (opens in new tab).

It’s refreshing to see so much transparency from Overwatch’s top brass on topics that matter most to daily  players, and today’s blog concerning win rates and hero popularity (opens in new tab) is easily his most illuminating yet.

Right out of the gate, Keller shares some interesting observations about Overwatch 2’s ranked meta in the first weeks of season 3. For instance, “most supports are viable in nearly every skill tier,” something that didn’t feel very true back in season 1. He also confirms one development that players have noticed looking at semi-reliable stat aggregation sites like Overbuff (opens in new tab): Brigitte is having a moment right now.

“Brigitte has really popped this season and has the highest win rate for nearly all skill tiers except for Top 500, where Zen takes the lead, with both averaging out to a nearly 55% win rate,” Keller said. “On the other end of the spectrum are Kiriko and Moira at around 45%.”

While you’d think that those who are playing a competitive shooter, particularly its most competitive mode, would gravitate toward heroes with the highest win rates, Keller says that’s not the case (names bolded by me):

“When we look at who is actually being played, the top supports are Ana, Kiriko, and Mercy for nearly all skill tiers until Silver and Bronze, where Moira becomes picked quite a bit.

“This goes to show, that heroes with the highest win rates aren’t always the heroes that are played the most.”

(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

This goes to show, that heroes with the highest win rates aren’t always the heroes that are played the most.

Aaron Keller

I find that fascinating. We know that in a competitive environment like ranked Overwatch, it can seem like sticking to the consensus-adopted meta of the month is all that matters. We also know that anecdotally it can feel like teammates are choosing heroes based on their preference, not necessarily what’s best for the team composition, so it’s interesting to see the official numbers back that up. Keller notes it’s “counterintuitive” that Kiriko is so popular despite winning less often and, on the flip side, Briggite wins constantly with a much lower presence.

There are several possible takeaways from this. I tend to think this suggests that, even at high levels of play, Overwatch players don’t like to feel boxed in by a small pool of “best” hero picks. People like to play their favorite heroes, and in fact, they’re unlikely to swap (opens in new tab) to a hero they don’t like.

As Keller mentions, the win/pick rate disparities could relate to other factors that aren’t being directly compared here, like overall team composition or map differences. Either way, Keller says the team “tends to think that highly skilled players are continuing to pick certain heroes for good reasons,” and is gathering additional metrics to study this. “If it’s fruitful, expect to hear more about it.”

In any case, I think the numbers indicate that there’s a significant chunk of the Overwatch 2 community (a probable majority, even) for whom the meta isn’t important. And if most players don’t care about the meta, how much should Blizzard care?

Maybe it comes down to keeping things balanced enough that the “best” heroes are only the best by a few percentage points. We certainly heard about it when supports weren’t getting enough love (opens in new tab) and Sojourn was one-shotting everyone into oblivion. It’s safe to say that players care about every hero being viable so that their favorites never have to fall out of fashion, and based on this data, that may be enough. 


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