Shuffalo answers — today's word ladder and full archive
Today's verified Shuffalo word ladder, the nine-letter Bonus Round, and the complete daily archive. Updated every morning.
Today's Shuffalo
Today's word ladder + bonus — tap to view
View today's full ladder solution and the nine-letter Bonus Round answer for May 13, 2026.
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About Shuffalo
Shuffalo is a daily word-ladder puzzle from The New Yorker. It's part of the magazine's puzzles & games department, alongside the daily crossword, Cryptic, and Caption Contest.
Each puzzle starts with a four- or five-letter word and asks you to climb a five-rung ladder. At each step you change one letter or add one letter, and the new sequence must form a valid English word. The word grows by one letter at each rung. After completing the ladder, the Bonus Round asks you to anagram the letters from the final word into a longer (typically nine-letter) answer.
This archive contains every Shuffalo we've indexed, organized by date with the verified ladder and bonus round answers. Use the date list above to jump to a specific puzzle.
How to play Shuffalo
Open The New Yorker's puzzles page and find Shuffalo. Each puzzle starts with a short word at the top.
For each rung of the ladder, you can change one letter or add one letter to the previous word. The result must be a valid English word.
The word grows longer at each step. By the end of the five-rung ladder, you have a longer word made up entirely of valid intermediate steps.
After completing the ladder, the Bonus Round presents you with a clue and an empty answer slot. Anagram all the letters from the final ladder word to spell a longer answer that fits the clue.
Solve both the ladder and the Bonus Round to complete the day's puzzle. A new Shuffalo is published every day at midnight US Eastern time.
Recent Shuffalo answers
Strategy & tips
Letter swaps
Try common letter substitutions first
When you need to change a letter, try swapping a vowel for another vowel (BAT → BIT) or a final letter shift (CAT → CAR). Most ladder steps use these simple shifts.
Letter additions
Common additions: -S, -E, -ER, -ED
When the rung adds a letter, the most common additions are pluralizing (S) or extending into common endings. Try those first before reaching for unusual letter placements.
Bonus first
Read the Bonus clue before starting
If you can guess the bonus answer from the clue alone, work backward — you'll know exactly which letters need to appear in the final ladder word. This often reveals the ladder's path.
Word patterns
Watch for compound or themed words
Some Shuffalo bonus answers are compound words (FIRELIGHT, SUNFLOWER) or themed (animals, foods). Once you spot a theme, the rest of the puzzle's answers often follow it.
Anagram tactic
Group consonants and vowels separately
For the bonus, write the final ladder word's letters in two groups: vowels and consonants. Then build the answer by combining a likely vowel-consonant rhythm. This often surfaces the answer in seconds.
When stuck
Use the verified solution here
If a single rung is blocking your finish, jump to today's Shuffalo solution. Each daily page shows the full ladder with each step's letter change highlighted.
Frequently asked questions
What is today's Shuffalo answer?
Today's full Shuffalo (May 13, 2026) is on the daily archive page — with the complete five-rung word ladder and the nine-letter Bonus Round answer.
What is Shuffalo?
Shuffalo is a daily word-ladder puzzle from The New Yorker. Each puzzle has two parts: a five-rung word ladder where you change or add one letter at each step, and a Bonus Round where you anagram the final word into a longer answer.
It's part of The New Yorker's daily puzzles & games suite, alongside the crossword and other word puzzles.
How does the word ladder work?
At each rung you can do one of two things: change one letter in the current word to a new letter, OR add one letter anywhere in the word. Either way, the result must be a valid English word.
The word gets longer as you climb. After five rungs, you have the final ladder word, which becomes the input to the Bonus Round.
What is the Bonus Round?
The Bonus Round presents you with a clue and an empty answer slot. You take all the letters from the final ladder word and rearrange them to spell a longer answer that matches the clue.
The bonus answer is typically nine letters and is the last challenge of each daily Shuffalo.
When does a new Shuffalo release?
A new Shuffalo is published daily at midnight US Eastern time on The New Yorker's puzzle pages. We post the verified solution shortly after.
Is Shuffalo free?
The daily Shuffalo is free on The New Yorker's site with limited free article access. Heavy Shuffalo players may want a subscription for unlimited access to the full puzzles section.
This site indexes the answer to every past Shuffalo as a free reference.
Are these answers official?
No. AppWalkthrough is an independent fan site. Shuffalo is a property of The New Yorker, and we're not affiliated with the publisher.
We solve and verify each daily puzzle ourselves before publishing.