Today’s Wordle answer: Wednesday March 9, #263 with clues, solution and discussion

It’s Wednesday Wordle and we welcome American Wordlers for their morning, erm, Wordling. As usual we’ve got the answer, some clues, discussion of the word and reaction from the good people of the internet. And ourselves, of course.

Today’s was another easy answer, truth be told, so if you don't get in at four at the most, this just isn't your day, your week, your month or even your year. It was perhaps even easier than yesterday’s Wordle 262, in that you didn't have to worry about double letters. It was kind of a boring word, too. Almost the only reason for failure we can think of is if you imagined it must be a more exciting word, and kept making very exotic guesses.

Before continuing with today’s solution, consider perusing T3’s official guide to Wordle, particularly if you have been struggling with Wordle. We have never actually lost at this game so far – touch wood – and in The Wordle Guide, you will learn the secrets of our success. If you follow our methods, young jedi, you really can't go wrong.  

Today's Wordle hint

February has long gone and we're way into March, which is relevant if you want to guess today's clue. It shouldn't take you years anyway. 

Is there any Wordle controversy today?  

There’s no Wordle controversy today. In fact we’re considering retiring this section, because Wordtroversy seems to be a thing of the past. We need more words like CAULK and AGORA (?) and fewer words like we’ve had so far this month.  

Today's Wordle solution

Today's answer is MONTH. As in January, February, March and er… all the other months. For getting this rather easy-peasy Wordle of the day answer correct in 4 attempts, we were acclaimed as ‘splendid’, no less. 

A month is a period of time designed to correspond to one full rotation of the moon. It's a common trivia fact that the original Roman calendar had 10 months but this didn't align with the seasons, so two more were added and two were renamed after popular emperors Julius (July) Caesar and Augustus (April. No, August).

The calendar used worldwide today is the Augustine calendar, although the Chinese still calculate the dates of their main holidays – notably Chinese New Year – using the calendar they employed before getting on board the Augustine bus.   

In The Wasteland, TS Eliot opined that ‘April is the cruellest month,’ because it’s when flowers – and our hopes – spring up. Only to be, as Eliot saw it, ultimately to die again. Perhaps he should have cheered himself up with the thought his name is an anagram of ‘toilets’. 

There aren’t many uses of the word MONTH in popular culture, but rave dads Underworld enjoyed success with their tune 2 Months Off, which carried on some of the euphoric mood of their big hit Born Slippy – that’s the ‘lager, lager, lager‘ one from the Trainspotting soundtrack. 

Taking our usual ALIEN/SHOUT approach, we rapidly established what four of today’s letters were, but we initially thought the answer was NORTH. Having established that it wasn’t, we correctly guessed MONTH. There’s no other word it could have been, unless gonth is a word [spoilers: it is not].  

Phew! After all that mental effort, we could do with a month off. Or perhaps two,