Merry Christmas!

Our gift? Of course, it’s a Wordle! (We may not be that creative here at Mashable’s Wordle Central, but we’re consistent!) Also, you get the tips and hints you love. So it’s a big win today.

If you want to bypass the struggle, you can jump to the bottom of this article to get December 25's Wordlesolution straight up. But if you prefer to work it out yourself, keep reading for a few clues, tips, and strategies to help you get there.

Where did Wordlecome from?

While engineer Josh Wardle originally createdWordlefor his partner, the word guessing game has since become a daily habit for thousands of players across the globe. In fact, Wordlebecame so popular that it was eventuallypurchased by the New York Times. 

Wordle has also inspirednumerous fanmade clones and alternate iterations, such as battle royaleSquabble, music identification gameHeardle, and variations likeDordleandQuordlethat have you trying toguess multiple words at once. It has also providedample content for TikTok creators, because sometimes it's nice to just watch someone solve a problem rather than do it yourself.

Not the day you're after? Here's the Wordleanswer for December 24.

What's the best Wordlestarting word?

Like snowflakes, every Wordlestarting word has its own unique beauty. However, if you prefer to be strategic with your choice, we have a few ideasto help you optimise your first move. Some helpful tips include choosing a word that has at least two different vowels in it, and making sure there are some common consonants like S, T, R, or N mixed in.

What happened to the Wordlearchive?

In happier times, the entire archive of past Wordleswas openly available for everybody to enjoy whenever they felt the urge for a word puzzle. Unfortunately this library has since been erased from the internet, with the website's creator saying its removal was at the New York Times' request.

Is Wordlegetting harder?

Though it may feel as though solving Wordle's puzzles is more of a struggle than it used to be, the game isn't getting any harder. You are able to make it more difficult though, as Wordlehas a Hard Modeyou can enable.

Why are there two different Wordleanswers some days?

While conventional wisdom states there should only be one Wordlesolution on any given day, there are rare days where two different answers will be deemed acceptable. This is because the New York Timesmade changes to Wordleafter acquiring it, swapping out some answers for new ones.

The Timeshas since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it's a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle.

Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordleanswer:

That additional piece of ham or pie today is this.

Does today's Wordleanswer have a double letter?

Nope. 

Today's Wordleis a 5-letter word that ends with...

Today's Wordleends with the letter A.

What's the answer to Wordletoday?

Lock in your final answers, because it's time to reveal the answer to today's Wordle.

Drum roll, please!

The solution to Wordle #554 is...

EXTRA.

Don't be discouraged if you didn't guess it this time! There will be a new Wordlepuzzle for you to try tomorrow, and we'll be back again with more tips and tricks to help you out.