The New York Times is making changes to Wordle answers

The New York Times announced changes to its rules. WordleIt acquired the viral word-game from Josh Wardle, a solo developer back in January.

The game also now has a dedicated editor, like the Times’ other word games. Tracy Bennett, who was previously a crossword editor takes over the position.

Although the basic gameplay will remain the same, Wardle and Palak Shah have now left behind their word list. The Times has created its own list. The types of words that are accepted for valid answers have undergone some modifications, along with those that may be used as guesses.

Newly ruled out as possible answers are plurals of three- and four-letter words ending in “ES” or “S”. Others plurals, however, are possible. “The answer will never be FOXES or SPOTS, but it might be GEESE or FUNGI,” the Times said.

However, words disallowed as answers, including plurals ending in “S”, can still be used as guesses to help narrow down the letters. As noted by the Washington Post, this freedom now extends to the offensive words that had previously been completely removed from the game’s dictionary by the NYT.

“While the answer list is curated, the much larger dictionary of English words that are valid guesses will not be curated,” the Times said. “What solvers choose to use as guess words is their private choice.”

In curating the answer list, the Times says it wants to ensure “the game stays focused on vocabulary that’s fun, accessible, lively, and varied.” Answers will now be carefully programmed and tested. “After nearly a year of speculation, it will finally be our fault if Wordle is harder,” the newspaper joked, referring to the debunked theory that the NYT had made the game more difficult after its acquisition.

We hope the Times has more success and keeps the fun alive Wordle It is more alive today than in the dreadful spinoff board game.