The solution to today’s Wordle puzzle ( #489 — October 21, 2022 ) is grove. A grove is a small plantation of closely-spaced trees without an undergrowth. It also describes “a road lined with houses and often trees, especially in a suburban area” (via Collins Dictionary), in which case that street would probably include “grove” in its name — for example, Palm Grove.
The word grove is from Old English’s “graf,” which means copse or small wood, similar to “græafa” of the same origin, meaning thicket (via Etymonline). You’ll find the word in the title of what is considered to be the first academic novel, “The Groves of Academe” by American writer Mary McCarthy. Today, in our usual fashion, we ditched the recommended starter words and opted for a random word, guild, as an opening guess. It paid off, and after an even luckier second guess, groan, the answer was clear. We hope you solve the puzzle faster.
