Question: What’s a five letter word for the way fans of Wordle feel the New York Times has treated them since buying the popular guessing game in January?
Answer: MESSY.
The Times has faced several controversies from fans of the viral guessing game. Considering that Paul Dano said that The Riddler, the villain he played in box office hit The Batman, most likely plays Wordle every day, it’s easy to understand that when it comes to their daily fix, Wordle addicts’ tempers ran hot on Twitter:
Reports that the so-called Paper of Record was taking Wordle clones off the Apple apps store were met with widespread indignation. Even more damning, to the word nerds who made the guessing game an immediate international sensation, were accusations that the Times made changes to make the game harder. While those allegations proved groundless – it turns out the changes were made to make the game easier – the Times caused an uproar among Wordle fanatics today when there appear to be two solutions to the game.
And not only are there two solutions, they apparently don’t share letters in common. The last time the Times published a Wordle with two solutions, it reflected changes to make the game easier, with “AROMA” replacing the original solution, “AGORA.” At the time, the change made headlines among competing news organizations, who were undoubtedly happy to embarrass the paper known as “The Grey Lady.”
Spoiler alert: Please note that clicking on the following link will lead to both solutions to today’s Wordle game.
In an email to Mashable, New York Times director of communication Jordan Cohen confirmed that the duo-lingo-imbroglio was intentional on their part, as it was once again the result of changing the solution to a word less obscure to American readers.
Twitter reactions were predictably furious:
The Times can’t be surprised that this move has caused controversy; as WGTC previously reported, fans of their other word games, like The Spelling Bee, are passionately devoted to their pasttimes.