Waffle Answer and Hints Today, #1739 for Monday, Oct. 26, 2026: Clues for Six Words

Today’s Waffle (wafflegame.net) is puzzle #1739, for Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, and it hides six five-letter words in one waffle-shaped grid. Three words read across and three read down, and every word is an ordinary English word. Use the clues below one word at a time; the answers, and a swap-by-swap route to the five-star score, are in a marked spoiler section at the end.

How Waffle works

The board is a five-by-five grid with four holes, so 21 letters are in play. Three words run across (rows 1, 3 and 5) and three run down (columns 1, 3 and 5). You swap any two letters, and you have 15 swaps to finish. Per the game’s own rules page:

Tile color	What it means
Green	The letter is in the right place.
Yellow	The letter is in that row or column, but in a different spot.
Gray	The letter is not in that row or column.

A letter on a corner can be yellow because of either of the two words that meet there. You earn a star for every swap left once the Waffle is solved, and the game says every Waffle can be solved in a minimum of 10 swaps.

Clues for each word

Across

• Row 1: starts with B and ends with E. A noun for salty water used for pickling.
• Row 3: starts with A and ends with E. An adjective meaning not asleep.
• Row 5: starts with E and ends with T. A verb meaning to choose someone in a vote.

Down

• Column 1: starts with B, ends with E, and shares its first letter with the row 1 word. A noun for a device that slows or stops a wheel or vehicle.
• Column 3: starts with I and ends with E. An adjective for something lacking sense or meaning, to the point of boredom or annoyance.
• Column 5: starts with E and ends with T. A verb meaning to put into vigorous action, as in exert yourself.

A solving tip for today

Start with the corners, because each one serves two words. Four of today’s six words end in E, so an E is a safe bet for the last spot of many lines. Once you have a green corner, fix the rest of that row or column before moving on, since a swap that turns two tiles green is worth more than one that turns one tile green. Count your swaps as you go: with 15 available and 10 as the minimum, you can afford five detours before stars are at risk.

Keep a streak log on our printable weekly calendar or the October 2026 printable calendar.

More of today’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Quordle hints and Connections hints.

Today’s Waffle answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

Direction	Position	Answer
Across	Row 1	Brine
Across	Row 3	Awake
Across	Row 5	Elect
Down	Column 1	Brake
Down	Column 3	Inane
Down	Column 5	Exert

The solved grid, with a dot for each hole:

B R I N E
R . N . X
A W A K E
K . R . R
E L E C T

The 10-swap route to five stars

The starting grid reads like this (letters row by row, dots are holes):

B A R W E
K . E . K
N N A R E
R . L . X
E C I N T

Six letters start in the right place (the B in row 1, column 1; the E in row 1, column 5; the A in the center; the E in row 3, column 5; the E in row 5, column 1; and the T in row 5, column 5), and the other 15 need to move. We checked by computer search that the fewest swaps from this starting grid to the solution is 10, which matches the game’s stated minimum. One route of 10 swaps, each given as row and column of the two squares:

Swap	Squares swapped	Letters
1	Row 1, column 2 and row 1, column 3	A and R
2	Row 1, column 3 and row 5, column 3	A and I
3	Row 1, column 4 and row 3, column 2	W and N
4	Row 2, column 1 and row 3, column 4	K and R
5	Row 2, column 3 and row 3, column 1	E and N
6	Row 2, column 5 and row 4, column 5	K and X
7	Row 3, column 1 and row 5, column 3	E and A
8	Row 4, column 1 and row 4, column 5	R and K
9	Row 4, column 3 and row 5, column 4	L and N
10	Row 5, column 2 and row 5, column 4	C and L

We applied these ten swaps in order to the starting grid and got the solved grid above. The answers come from the puzzle file the game serves, and a new Waffle arrives each day.