Working on today’s Wordle? No. 1,554 (September 20, 2025) leans trickier than it first looks. Testers averaged 5.2 guesses and rated it “very challenging” in the New York Times’ Wordle Review. If you’d rather solve unaided, head to the official game here: Wordle.

Five spoiler-free hints

  • It starts with the letter D.
  • There is only one distinct vowel, and it appears twice.
  • Exactly one letter is repeated.
  • It’s a verb meaning to postpone or put something off.
  • In college admissions, students sometimes request this to delay enrollment by a year.

Ready for the answer?

Stop here if you want to keep guessing.

Today’s Wordle (1554) answer is: DEFER.

Why this one felt tough

Single-vowel words with a duplicate letter often slow solves: once you place the vowel, it’s easy to overlook that it appears twice. The consonant set is common, which encourages many plausible dead ends before the repeated letter clicks.

Yesterday and recent solutions

  • September 19 (#1553): LATER
  • Recent: ALONG (#1549), LEFTY (#1550), TEETH (#1551), KNIFE (#1552)

Quick tips for repeated-letter days

  • When a vowel locks in, test whether it can occur twice by probing both sides of common consonant frames (e.g., _E_E_).
  • If a midgame board stalls, spend a guess to check duplication explicitly; it often saves two or more tries later.
  • Rule out near neighbors by position, not just presence. For D–E–_–E– patterns, cycle flexible consonants (F, T, N, L, R) to narrow quickly.

Want to try your luck tomorrow or share your grid? You can play at the official Wordle page and compare strategies in the daily review once it posts.