Wordle today: Hint and answer for #854 Saturday, October 21

pcgamer.com:

Quickly find your feet in today's Wordle with a clue written just for the October 21 (854) game, brush up on your general guessing, or simply bask in the warm glow of an easy victory with the answer to today's puzzle. Whatever your Wordle aims today, we can help you out.

It was only good use of all the grey letters I'd stumbled on previously that saved today's game, helping me home in on the answer. It wasn't quick but hey, some days any kind of win is better than none at all. As clever as I felt for finding the answer in the letters left behind, I'd definitely appreciate a few more greens next time. 

Today's answer refers to a particular kind of smile, the sort with a self-satisfied, smug edge to it rather than any warmth. Four of today's five letters are consonants. 

No letters are used twice in today's puzzle. 

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: 

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. 

There's no way you're losing on a Saturday. The answer to the October 21 (854) Wordle is SMIRK.

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:

Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret