Today's Wordle answer #297: Tuesday, April 12

Have you been looking for the answer to the April 12 (297) Wordle? Good—that means you've found the right place. Not every morning needs to pose a fresh challenge to your personal linguistic library, but that doesn't mean you have to automatically forfeit your daily winning streak either.

Perhaps you came here to browse our Wordle archive instead? I can help with all of your Wordle related worries, whether you were looking for a helpful tip or just wanted someone to tell you the answer. I can even teach you how to play Wordle if you'd like to try the internet's latest social gaming phenomenon for yourself. 

Wordle April 12: A helpful hint

This is a word for queens, kings, and their relatives. It can also sit on top of cookies and in certain circumstances be flushed, too. 

Today's Wordle 297 answer

Some days all the hints in the world aren't enough, and you just wish someone would tell you straight. Well, consider your wish granted. The answer to the April 12 (297) Wordle is ROYAL.

How Wordle works

In Wordle you're presented with five empty boxes to work with, and you need to suss out a secret five-letter word which fits in those boxes. You've only got six guesses to nail it.

Start with a word like "RAISE"—that's good because it contains three common vowels and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. 

If a box turns ⬛️, 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 nailed the letter, it's in the word and in the right spot.

In the next row, repeat the process for your second guess using what you learned from your previous guess. You have six tries and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E).

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, 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, 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. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.