Wordle #173 Answer
December 9, 2021 · Thursday
The answer to Wordle #173 was
RHINO: A rhinoceros.
Source: Wiktionary contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected and lightly formatted from Wiktionary; long entries may be shortened.
Why it may be easier: five different letters, at least two vowels and none of Q, Z, X, J, K, V or W.
How difficult was it for the solver?
In a replay of past puzzles, Wordle #173 scores 10/100 for solver difficulty (easier for the solver).
This compares past puzzles under the same solver settings; it does not measure how players performed. Compare more puzzles →
Wordle #173, measured
This section compares RHINO's solver-difficulty percentile, first-guess results for ten familiar openers, and opt-in player reports. Each number identifies its dataset.
Solver difficulty, as a percentile
This score is a percentile, not an opinion. Under the site's fixed solver settings, RHINO measured harder for the solver than about 10% of all 1,906 recorded answers to date. Its rating is easier for the solver. CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU leave a large group.
Solver pressure ranks the answer within the pool; it does not measure player performance. The opener table compares first-guess results, and the contributed ratings report player results.
CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU benchmark
RAISE left the fewest candidates: its first-guess feedback left 1 of the 2,374 words in the site's working answer pool. At the other end, SLATE left 229 candidates, about 229 times as many. SALET and SLATE came back all gray. None of their letters appear in RHINO.
| Opener | First-guess feedback | Answers still possible |
|---|---|---|
| RAISE | RAISE | 1 |
| CRANE | CRANE | 5 |
| ARISE | ARISE | 7 |
| AUDIO | AUDIO | 11 |
| TRACE | TRACE | 66 |
| TARSE | TARSE | 95 |
| STARE | STARE | 102 |
| ADIEU | ADIEU | 105 |
| SALET | SALET | 229 |
| SLATE | SLATE | 229 |
“Answers still possible” counts the words in the site's 2,374-word working answer pool whose feedback would match that opener exactly. This is pattern arithmetic, not a simulation. A smaller number means the opener left fewer possible answers after the first guess. It does not describe later turns.
Contributed player ratings
Not enough contributed games to publish player figures for this puzzle. Per-puzzle numbers appear only after at least 10 opt-in games arrive. See how the Observatory collects and publishes player data →
See the solver's route to RHINO → It shows which guesses reduced the candidate pool on each turn.
Solver replay
One route our solver takes from its usual opening word to RHINO.
The solver reaches the answer in 2 guesses.
Common questions
- What was the Wordle answer for December 9, 2021?
- The Wordle answer for December 9, 2021 (puzzle #173) was RHINO.
- What does RHINO mean?
- RHINO: A rhinoceros.
- Why was Wordle #173 tricky?
- RHINO is rated easy for estimated word difficulty. Why it may be easier: five different letters, at least two vowels and none of Q, Z, X, J, K, V or W.