Wordle Just Got More Challenging: NY Times Makes a Game-Changing Update

A Dedicated Editor Takes the Reins

Nobody ever claimed that Wordle would remain unchanged forever. The New York Times recently announced a significant shift in the popular word puzzle game. With its new dedicated editor, Wordle is aligning itself more closely with other renowned game properties like the Crossword and Spelling Bee. The announcement ominously stated, “After nearly a year of speculation, it will finally be our fault if Wordle is harder.”

A Departure from the Status Quo

In the past, Wordle’s daily solutions were generated automatically, relying on a predefined list of five-letter words from the dictionary. However, now that a person has taken charge of the game’s direction, we can expect deviations from this static list. Apart from eliminating words that were deemed inappropriate or controversial, The New York Times largely left the list untouched as Wordle’s popularity exploded over the past year. But that’s all about to change.

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An Evolving Word List

The extent of the upcoming changes to the Wordle word list remains somewhat vague. According to the announcement, the game will now feature a Times-curated word list, similar to the Spelling Bee and Crossword games. The answers will be drawn from a basic dictionary of words, albeit with some editorial adjustments. These adjustments aim to maintain a focus on vocabulary that is engaging, accessible, diverse, and, above all, fun.

While the answers themselves may be subject to curation and adjustments, the overall dictionary of valid guesses will remain extensive. In other words, you’ll still have a wide range of words at your disposal. The announcement explicitly states, “While the answer list is curated, the much larger dictionary of English words that are valid guesses will not be curated.”

Farewell to Simple Plurals

One significant change that will directly affect your Wordle gameplay involves plurals. In the future, plurals formed by simply adding an “s” or “es” to a singular word will no longer be accepted as valid Wordle answers. So, words like “foxes” or “boats” will never be the final solution. However, plurals that don’t follow this pattern, such as “geese” or “fungi,” will still be included in the game.

While this change might impact your strategy, particularly as the number of available letters decreases, it won’t completely disrupt your Wordle approach. Plurals like “foxes” or “boats” will still be recognized as valid guesses, with the corresponding letters marked yellow or green if correct. They simply won’t be the ultimate Wordle answer.

Embrace the Changes and Excel at Wordle

Bear these new developments in mind during your next Wordle session. Avoid wasting time on plurals that you know won’t be valid answers and focus instead on utilizing a diverse selection of letters to narrow down the solution.