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It's Tuesday yet again, and just like every day, that means a fresh Wordle. While it's always the most fun to nail it down yourself, sometimes the letter gods are less than kind and you just get stuck — that's where we come in.

The answer to the July 12 Wordle, puzzle #388, can be found at the end of this article, or you can make your way down in a more leisurely fashion for a few tips, gentle hints, and strategies to help you every day.

Who made Wordle? Where did Wordle come from?

Wordle's sudden explosion at the end of 2021 led to a round of press focused on its creator. Former Reddit engineer Josh Wardle actually came up with the game in 2021 as a private exercise for him and his word game-loving partner. It eventually became a staple of their family WhatsApp messaging, and that's when Wardle started to suspect he might have something special enough to merit a wider release.

Thousands of people around the globe now play this game each day, and fans have even created alternatives to Wordleinspired by the original format. This includes music identification game Heardle, Hollywood nerd faves Actorleand Framed, and variations like Dordleand Quordlethat make you guess multiple words at once.

Not the day you're after? You'll find the Wordleanswer for July 11 here.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

We have some ideas to help you pick the perfect first move (or as close to perfect as you can get without just magically guessing the exact right word). Such tips include choosing a word with at least two different vowels in it, plus a few common consonants such as S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

While you could once play the entire archive of past puzzles, the archive was taken down at the request of the New York Times, according to the site's creator.

Is Wordle getting harder?

If you've been finding Wordletoo easy, there is a Hard Mode you can enable to give yourself more of a challenge. But unless you activate this mode, we can assure you that Wordle isn't getting harder. 

Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?

The whole point of Wordleis that everyone's solving the same puzzle, with the same answer, no matter where you are in the world. However, occasionally the puzzle game will accept two different correct solutions on the same day, in apparent defiance of Wordlelaw.

This aberration is due to changes the New York Timesbegan making after it acquired Wordleearlier this year. To make sure you're always getting the same puzzle as everyone else, refresh your browser before you play — don't worry, the site will keep your streak.

A subtle hint for the Wordle answer on July 12

It's a very common, everyday noun. (And we literally mean everyday.)

Wordle today is a 5-letter word that starts with...

...the letter N!

Does today's Wordle word have a double letter?

Not today! And after yesterday's cheeky doubledouble, that's a bit of a relief.

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Wordle today: What's the answer?

Ready?

We'll finally tell you the answer.

It's...

NIGHT.

Reporting by Caitlin Welsh, Amanda Yeo and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.