The New York Times has changed today’s intended Wordle answer due to a major news event that took place last week. Earlier today, The New York Times released a blogpost explaining that they had changed today’s Wordle answer from the originally intended answer pre-loaded into the game’s algorithm months ago. The New York Times explained that the original answer “seems closely connected to a major recent news event,” which was a coincidence due to how Wordle was created last year. The New York Times made the decision to remove the answer, as the games department “want Wordle to remain distinct from the news.”
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Potential Spoilers for Today’s Wordle (aka Wordle #324) are below.
The original answer for today’s Wordle was FETUS, which is of course relevant due to last week’s leaked Supreme Court brief that indicates that the US high court is about to overturn the federal right to an abortion. The right to an abortion is one of the most controversial issues in the United States today, and the already tense discourse surrounding it was heightened by the leak.
Because Wordle pre-determines its answers months in advance, the New York Times acknowledges that a small number of players might still see FETUS as their answer for today’s puzzle. Anyone who has refreshed their browser in the last week will have a different answer to solve. However, players who have not refreshed their Wordle browser since when the New York Times changed the answer could still have the outdated puzzle loaded onto their webpage.
The New York Times notes that they have made several improvements to Wordle since acquiring it earlier this year and today’s puzzle is a “very unusual circumstance.” This marks the second time in recent weeks that Wordle has potentially had multiple answers – last month, The New York Times removed a puzzle for potentially being too confusing, which led to some players having a different puzzle for several days until they refreshed their browser.
Wordle remains a free-to-play game on The New York Times’ website.
