Technologies

New Study Reveals Wordle’s Top 10 Toughest Words of 2025

Did you get INBOX? What about EDIFY? Plus: The New York Times has a sort of Spotify Wrapped for Wordle players.

Did Wordle keep you busy this year? Some words are more challenging than others. INBOX — the Wordle answer on April 19 — was this year’s most difficult Wordle puzzle in the US, according to the language learning platform Preply, which connects learners with tutors.

Preply identified the trickiest word by analyzing Google search interest for «Wordle hint» across every puzzle from January to November. It selected the toughest puzzles by examining which ones «produced the largest relative spikes nationally and within each US state.»

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Preply listed nine other words that ranked as the hardest in 2025. (It looks like Aug. 13-14 was a particularly stressful period for puzzlers.) Here’s a look at the top 10.

INBOX (April 19)
EDIFY (June 6)
KEFIR (Aug. 13)
KNELL (Aug. 14)
LORIS (July 18)
QUOTA (March 30)
HAZEL (April 7)
IDIOM (May 30)
IMBUE (Aug. 8)
GIZMO (Nov. 11)

EDIFY — which means to instruct or improve — and KEFIR — a fermented milk drink — may have led to a lot of Google searches.

But not all Wordles were brain-busters. Preply found the easiest puzzles to solve in 2025 were CHAIR (Sept. 11), BLUNT (Sept. 24) and SPORT (May 27).

Spotify Wrapped for Wordle, kind of

You’re familiar with Spotify Wrapped, the music service’s annual roundup of each user’s year in Spotify songs. There’s a similar yearly recap for YouTube videos. Now, The New York Times is getting in on the trend with a year-end recap for players of Wordle and its other games, like Connections.

For Wordle, the Times’ Year in Games roundup shows how many days you solved a puzzle, what time of day you did most of your solving, which Wordle you solved the fastest, how many guesses it took you on average and your most common starter word.

For Connections, it shows how many times you solved it without any mistakes, what the year’s trickiest puzzle was (hint: that one with all the symbols) and which color category you usually solved first.

For Spelling Bee, it shows how many words you found all year, what your longest found word was, how many times you used all seven letters to find a pangram and how many times you reached Genius level.

For Strands, it shows how many times you solved it without any hints and what your longest streak was.

The roundup also shows what your most-played game was this year. (Connections for the win!) As with other similar roundups, you’re able to share your result summary if you want.

For more coverage on puzzles, you can check out CNET’s daily answers and hints for Wordle, The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands. And you can view our guide to the most popular letters to make your starter word as strong as possible.

Technologies

Apple Launches Creator Studio Package as $13 a Month Subscription

Mac users can still buy the apps individually, but subscribers get access to Final Cut Pro and other Studio tools.

Apple is bundling its pro filmmaking and audio tools including Final Cut Pro with its productivity apps Keynote, Pages and Numbers into a subscription software suite called Apple Creator Studio.

The package, which includes apps for Mac, iPad and iPhone, includes Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage and the whiteboard app Freeform. Creator Studio will be available starting Jan. 28 at a cost of $13 per month or $129 per year, or $3 per month or $30 per year for students and educators. Mac users will still have the option to purchase software like Final Cut Pro for a one-time free. The current price for Final Cut Pro in the Mac App Store is $300.

While apps such as Keynote and Pages are already free on Apple platforms, it appears that new versions of those apps will receive access to beta features that will roll out first to Creator Studio subscribers. The announcement by Apple alludes to «new AI features and premium content» in some of the apps it otherwise makes available to use for free.

What the Creator Studio bundle comes with

The star of the show in Creator Studio is Final Cut Pro, the video editing software that will now include Transcript Search on both Mac and iPad. There is also a new Beat Detection feature Apple says uses an AI model to analyze a music track and display a beat grid, making it easier to cut video to music rhythms. The software also will include a new Montage Maker on iPad for quick social video creation.

Motion, the 2D and 3D graphics tool, and Compressor also integrate with Final Cut Pro. Apple touted Motion’s Magnetic Mask feature for isolating objects or people without the need for a green screen.

Logic Pro has new features for musicians, including a Synth Player addition to AI Session Players. Chord ID, a new AI feature, can create chord progressions from audio or MIDI recordings. A new Sound Library will have hundreds of royalty-free clips, samples and loops.

A revamped MainStage app gives subscribers access to instrument, voice-professing and guitar rig tools. Pixelmator Pro arrives with new tools and filters, and there will be an iPad version in addition to the Mac tool.

Freeform in the Creator Studio package will add premium content, including curated photos, graphics and illustrations. It will also get new AI features that include image creation.

Technologies

Reddit Outage Resolved: Here’s What Happened

Did you have trouble reading your favorite subreddits today? You weren’t alone.

If you had trouble accessing the news and discussion forum Reddit on Tuesday, you weren’t the only one. However, as of 10:15 a.m. PT, the site appears to be back up and running normally. Reddit’s status monitoring page, RedditStatus.com, notes that «all systems (are) operational» after the brief outage.

But earlier, at 9:30 a.m. PT, RedditStatus.com said the company was «investigating elevated errors across reddit.com and native apps.» RedditStatus.com reported degraded site performance for both desktop web use and native mobile apps.

Earlier on Tuesday, the site-monitoring service DownDetector also reported issues at Reddit, providing additional details. At one point on Tuesday, DownDetector received over 100,000 reports that the site was having problems. At 10:25 am PT, the report numbers fell to under 600. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

«Reddit is currently experiencing a significant internal outage causing widespread service disruptions,» the site said earlier Tuesday. «The impact is categorized as Very High, primarily affecting mobile app access (55%) and website connectivity (39%). While reports are heavily concentrated in major hubs like New York City and Chicago, the lack of ISP correlation suggests a broad, nationwide issue stemming from Reddit’s internal servers rather than external network providers.»

A representative for Reddit did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another social media site, X, formerly Twitter, also showed problems on Tuesday, according to DownDetector. Those problems seemed to spike around 6:30 a.m. PT and improve after.

Technologies

This 3-in-1 Charger Is a Must-Have for Travelers, and It Just Hit a Record-Low of $95

Snag it for $45 off and charge your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at the same time.

If you’re a frequent traveler, then you know that outlets are a precious commodity in places like airports and coffee shops. So why waste one on a single device when you can charge up to three at once? Right now, you can grab this seriously sleek Ugreen Magflow three-in-one foldable charger for just $95 at Amazon. That’s a $45 discount and the all-time lowest price we’ve seen. Just don’t wait too long, as this deal could expire at any time.

At just 7.4 ounces, this compact charging station is designed to be taken on the go. But despite its size, it still supports 25-watt MagSafe charging for iPhones, as well as 5-watt wireless charging for AirPods and Apple Watches. The charging stand also tilts up to double as a stand, and it’s equipped with 16 magnets to keep your phone aligned and securely in place. Plus, it’s got built-in protections against overheating, overcharging, short-circuiting and more to prevent damage to your devices.

Why this deal matters

This folding Ugreen charger is great for juicing up your devices on the go, and it’s never been more affordable. Plus, Ugreen makes some of the best MagSafe chargers on the market right now, so don’t miss your chance to grab one at a record-low price.