New York Times Changes ‘Wordle’ Rules, Making Game More Challenging Now

Still keeping up with your daily Wordle challenge? Well, it appears the rumors that the New York Times is making the game more difficult could finally be coming true, as the publication announced it’s bringing new changes to the quiz. 

From now, the guessing game will have its own dedicated editor, Tracy Bennett, along with interesting modifications to its rules and word bank. As such, the game will now feature answers from a list determined by the Times instead of its original creator, Josh Wardle. 

“After nearly a year of speculation, it will finally be our fault if Wordle is harder,” the newspaper cheekily reveals in a statement. 

Explaining that the editorial adjustments are to ensure the game features vocabulary that is “fun, accessible, lively, and varied,” the Times says that answers henceforth will still comprise five-letter words, but with the exception of plural forms ending in -es or -s. 

For example, a possible Wordle answer could be “geese” or “fungi,” but “foxes” or “spots” are out of the question. These words can still be used as guesses to narrow down the search, though.

“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,” the Times remarks. 

Good luck, and you know who to blame if the daily challenge gets even more frustrating. 

[Mashable and The New York Times, cover image via Davide Bonaldo | Dreamstime.com]