The New York Times has hired a dedicated Wordle editor to ensure the word list remains “fun, accessible, lively and varied.”
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Originally launched in 2018, Wordle’s daily five-letter word has always been chosen from the same list of 2315 words. Now, a new Wordle editor will curate that list.
“After nearly a year of speculation, it will finally be our fault if Wordle is harder,” said owners The New York Times.
“Wordle‘s gameplay will stay the same and answers will be drawn from the same basic dictionary of answer words,” the announcement continued.
However Wordle will now come “with some editorial adjustments to ensure that the game stays focused on vocabulary that’s fun, accessible, lively and varied.”
“While the answer list is curated, the much larger dictionary of English words that are valid guesses will not be curated. What solvers choose to use as guess words is their private choice.”
After nearly a year of speculation, it will finally be our fault if Wordle is harder.
Starting today, Wordle will have a dedicated editor, just as the Crossword, Mini and Spelling Bee do. https://t.co/irqKhzAXeG
— New York Times Games (@NYTGames) November 7, 2022
Earlier this year, Wordle changed a puzzle due to backlash from players. Days after a leaked draft from the US Supreme Court confirmed their plans to overturn Roe v. Wade, the solution to Wordle was “fetus”.
After complaints, The New York Times changed the daily word, saying the original was “outdated” and “closely connected to a major recent news event”. It then claimed that it was “entirely unintentional and a coincidence.” A dedicated editor will help ensure mistakes like that don’t happen again.
Back in August, the official Wordle assistant bot confirmed a new optimal starting word. The bot has its own dictionary of around 4,500 words that are likely to be used by players and now lists “Slate” as the best starting word.
The recommended starting word was previously “Crane” on regular mode, while hard mode’s “Dealt” has been changed to “Least.”
In other news, esports commentator and host Matthew ‘Sadokist’ Trivett has been fired from a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament for allegedly smashing a TV.
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