Today's Wordle Answer Different For You? NYT May Be The Reason
Warning: This article contains spoilers for March 30's Wordle solution.
March 30 seems to have presented two different Wordle solutions to players, and leading to a fair bit of confusion. The web-based word puzzle asks players to find a five-letter word through trial and error, with every user having the same daily solution. However, it appears that the Wordle answer for March 30th broke this rule, giving some players an entirely different solution from others.
Created by Josh Wardle and purchased by The New York Times in January, Wordle has recently grown into a massive cultural phenomenon. The game gives players six chances to figure out a five-letter word, with every player given the exact same solution. Guessing a word will reveal whether the chosen letters are in the solution, and which position they are in, allowing Wordle lovers to slowly figure out the solution through trial and error. The game tracks win percentage and win streaks, too, turning it into a daily competition. While solutions are meant to be everyday words, a prototype Wordle word list apparently contained extremely unorthodox words like "rozit" and "yorps."
Wordle players discovered two different solutions on March 30, and New York Times Games (via Twitter) is offering a bonus win as compensation. While many players found "stove" to be the correct solution, some users instead had "harry" appear as the answer. Players like Twitter user Nikhil quickly noticed the issue, since their Wordle solution was different from their friends and family. The Washington Post suggests that some players are using an outdated version of the Wordle host page, with an outdated word list including the word "harry." The New York Times likely removed the word due to its more frequent use as a proper noun than an adjective.
The massive success of Wordle has led to many copycat games, many of which use words from specific sources. However, a Wordle movie clone called Framed instead tasks players with correctly identifying a movie based solely on a series of still frames. The unique web-based game starts players off with a single movie frame, allowing them to guess the movie based on a long list of possibilities. Guessing wrong unlocks additional frames, hopefully allowing the player to eventually identify the film.
Given the clear rules of Wordle, it is strange to see two separate solutions suddenly appear on March 30. While New York Times Games has offered players a bonus win, it has not officially explained the cause of the issue. Kelsie's explanation of the issue does seem very logical, considering that most Wordle players would consider "harry" to be a proper noun rather than an adjective.
Sources: New York Times Games/Twitter, Nikhil/Twitter, The Washington Post