New York Times Says They Haven't Made Wordle 'Harder' to Solve -- Despite What Some Fans Think

[brooklynite]

People Magazine

If you're one of the many Wordle fans who have run into some difficulty solving the daily puzzle recently, rest assured that the game hasn't actually gotten harder.

With some of the latest words — "ultra" and "ulcer," for example — being particularly challenging to guess, a number of players have speculated that some big changes were made when Wordle was acquired by The New York Times Games.

...snip...

However, according to the Times, nothing about the game has actually gotten more challenging.

"Since acquiring Wordle, The Times has not made the puzzle harder. We have not added any words to the solutions list, which was already predetermined by the game's original creator," communications director Jordan Cohen tells PEOPLE.

In fact, they've actually removed a few obscure words "in an effort to make the puzzle more accessible."

[mcar]

1. It doesn't seem harder

I still win some, lose some.

[Srkdqltr]

2. All the words I have solved were common words. I think a few over think the words.

There are charts of what letters come up more often. Just clear your mind and don't overthink. And start with a word with at least 3 vowels. Patio works and ratio. Anything with vowels.

[TxGuitar]

4. I use mauve

And agree, it doesn't seem any easier or harder, about the same.

[Sympthsical]

6. A friend posted on FB the other day

"How do so many of you mfers not know what caulk is?!

Cracked me up.

My feed lets me know when the country is having a bad Wordle day.

[CottonBear]

7. I always start with adieu and then snort.

I haven’t lost yet since I’ve been playing.

[PatSeg]

12. Yes, when I overthink the game,

I have a harder time figuring out the word. Now I think I'm just getting tired of the game.

[zuul]

16. Lots of folks on Twitter were complaining about not knowing the word TACIT.

Pretty stupid argument.

[Hortensis]

3. :) I'm not taking any longer or more frustrated than before.

I first try to do it without resorting to an online assist, then more often than not (but not MORE more often) do just that before I run out of chances.

I think if we'd thought of it we could have predicted this. The "spiritus mundi" of our times.

[cilla4progress]

5. I never encountered double letters before -

Cynic

[mnhtnbb]

20. I didn't realize that if you had double

letters that it would only put in one until the first double letter word I did in the last week or so, unless you tried a word with double letters.

[Poiuyt]

25. SWILL got me the other day

I got 4 green letters right away, but then guessed STILL, SPILL, and SKILL. My second loss in 33 tries.

[melm00se]

8. To solve Wordle

a little understanding of frequency analysis and English language linguistics comes in handy.





Words like "caulk" are a challenge because 3 of the letters are in the bottom half of the frequency and the "LK" bigram is not overly common, in fact is arguably rare. The other bigrams are slightly more common.

(learned all this jargon and gobbledygook from a thesis on cryptography)

[obamanut2012]

11. And, yesterday's word

Tacit isn't a weird or unusual word to me, but people are all over social media saying it's a word no one ever uses. I do! I even said it to my cat the other day. lol

[PatSeg]

13. Not unusual at all

I've found all the words to be common. A lot depends on what words you use initially I think or where your brain is at.

Edit to add: So how did your cat respond?

[melm00se]

15. I tacitly approve

your sentiments.

[sl8]

19. And I'll bet your cat didn't need to look it up in the dictionary, either. n/t

[mnhtnbb]

21. I actually got my first 2 with tacit.

I had used scone first. No o or e, so I wanted a word with a and i and the c in a different spot, and I thought of tacit. Blew me away when it went all green in 2 tries off only one correct letter--a consonant--on the first try.

[zuul]

18. I've been keeping a log of the most commonly used letters in Wordle

and I've played about 40 games so far.

The most common Wordle letters are I - R - O - N.

I usuallly start with the word MINOR.

[Srkdqltr]

22. No. No. Your over thinking this. This is a KISS game.

Keep it simple stupid.

[melm00se]

26. 120 possible permutations

with only 6 guesses and 158,390 possible words

You need some strategy and strategies have a intelligent basis.

[Liberal In Texas]

9. Naw, it's still pretty easy.

Wordle 2 is much more difficult. 6 letters.

[obamanut2012]

10. It isn't any harder at all

Quite a few folks didn't even know yesterday's word, but it's not a weird word for me anyway.

[SoonerPride]

14. Today I got it in 2.

If it's harder then I am a genius.

[dsc]

17. I have only played twice (yesterday and today)

and got it in four both times. I am mediocre at best and word games so I find it hard to believe it is harder.

[tavernier]

23. I use stare.

Two most used vowels and three very often used consonants. I almost got it in two today. It was a matter of eenie meenie miny mo.

[Deminpenn]

24. It's not hard although "ultra"

was hard because it starts with the rare vowel "u".

I find it a fun game because there's an element of vocabulary, Jumble, Scrabble and logic.