Wordle today: Hint and answer #861 for Saturday, October 28

Today's Wordle being played on a phone
(Image credit: Future)

Scroll on down and take a look at our freshly written hint for today's Wordle, ready and waiting just in case you need a little extra help with today's game. And if you need a lot of extra help with today's Wordle you're in luck: the answer to the October 28 (861) game's here too.

After too many win-streak worrying days in a row, it felt great to finally have a nice, straightforward victory again. Yellows, greens, answer—done. Thank goodness for that. Not exactly a Wordle for the history books, but today's game did my blood pressure no end of good.

Today's Wordle hint

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

Wordle today: A hint for Saturday, October 28

Today's answer refers to a skilled professional known for their ability to prepare, cut, and then create buildings or other objects from stone. You'll need to find two different vowels to solve today's Wordle.  

Is there a double letter in Wordle today? 

No letters are used twice in today's puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success: 

  • A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants. 
  • A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
  • The solution may contain repeat letters.

There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank. 

Today's Wordle answer

(Image credit: Future)

What is today's Wordle answer?

Kick off your Wordle weekend with a win. The answer to the October 28 (861) Wordle is MASON.

Previous answers

The last 10 Wordle answers 

The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

  • October 27: NOBLE
  • October 26: PIQUE
  • October 25: RETRY
  • October 24: CAUSE
  • October 23: TEMPO
  • October 22: GIVEN
  • October 21: SMIRK
  • October 20: OCCUR
  • October 19: SPLAT
  • October 18: MERCY

Learn more about Wordle 

(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)

Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.

You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you've got the right letter in the right spot.

You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.

After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above. 

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. 

Kerry Brunskill
Contributing Writer

When baby Kerry was brought home from the hospital her hand was placed on the space bar of the family Atari 400, a small act of parental nerdery that has snowballed into a lifelong passion for gaming and the sort of freelance job her school careers advisor told her she couldn't do. She's now PC Gamer's word game expert, taking on the daily Wordle puzzle to give readers a hint each and every day. Her Wordle streak is truly mighty.

Somehow Kerry managed to get away with writing regular features on old Japanese PC games, telling today's PC gamers about some of the most fascinating and influential games of the '80s and '90s.