WIRED

Meaning

To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing.

“We need to wire that hole in the fence.”

• adjectiveEquipped with wires, so as to connect to a power source or to other electric or electronic equipment; connected by wires.

WIRED as a word-puzzle answer

WIRED is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (I, E) and 3 consonants (W, R, D). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (I, R, E), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. Watch for the less-common letter W — saving a guess to test it once the vowels are placed is usually the fastest route.