The New York Times has removed ‘fetus’ as an answer to today’s Wordle, in response to the recent Roe vs Wade abortion ruling in the US.
The answer for Monday, May 9, was changed from the topical word to a new, less loaded word – although some players are still having to answer the original puzzle.
Not for the first time, it means there are two possible answers that Wordle players can potentially get on Monday.
The New York Times, which bought Wordle from its original creator back in January, said it wants the game ‘to remain distinct from the news’.
Wordle was bought out for an undisclosed seven figure sum at the end of January from its creator, British software engineer Josh Wardle
Multiple US organizations that support abortion rights called for nationwide protests after a leaked draft opinion showed the US Supreme Court was poised to overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Here, pro-choice demonstrators rally outside the State House during a Pro-Choice Mother’s Day Rally in Boston, Massachusetts, May 8, 2022
Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that legalised abortion in the US in 1973.
Multiple US organisations that support abortion rights called for nationwide protests, after a leaked draft opinion showed the US Supreme Court was poised to overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
‘Wordle continues to delight millions of people every day, but as we move it over to The Times’s technology, we have continued to discover challenges,’ the New York Times said in a statement on its website.
‘Today, for example, some users may see an outdated answer that seems closely connected to a major recent news event.
‘At New York Times Games, we take our role seriously as a place to entertain and escape, and we want Wordle to remain distinct from the news.’
Like other Wordle answers, Monday’s original answer was loaded into Wordle last year, before the NYT purchased the game in January.
In fact, there are enough pre-listed answers in the website’s backend for the game to last until October 2027.
So the fact that the answer is related to a topical news event is ‘entirely unintentional and a coincidence’, the website added.
NYT switched the answer from ‘fetus’, – which uses the American spelling rather than the British spelling of the word – for ‘as many solvers as possible’.
It’s difficult to change words that have already been, pre-loaded ‘because of the current Wordle technology’, it said, although it did not specify how exactly.
Not for the first time, it means there are two possible answers that Wordle players can potentially get on Monday, frustrating fans of the game
Some Wordle fans took to Twitter to voice their confusion – one user, @yescaptain, said: ‘Hey @nytimes – WTF? My wife gets ***** and I get FETUS’
Wordle fans will get the replacement word to solve if they’ve refreshed their browser window; if they don’t do that, they’ll have to solve ‘fetus’.
Some Wordle fans took to Twitter to voice their confusion – one user, @yescaptain, said: ‘Hey @nytimes – WTF? My wife gets ***** and I get FETUS’.
Referring to the American spelling, another user, @ameenab2003, said: ‘Not spelled properly anyway. It has 6 letters, of course, so shouldn’t have been on the list in the first place.’
NYT acknowledged that there were two different answers for Monday, but said ‘that this is a very unusual circumstance’.
But this is not the first time this has happened since the takeover – in February, the original answer for Wordle #241 was changed from ‘agora’ to ‘aroma’ because the former was deemed too obscure.
And in March, Wordle #284 was changed from ‘harry’ to ‘stove’ for the same reason. In both instances, some users were still getting the original word.
Several ‘offensive’ words from Wordle have been successfully removed, including ‘lynch’, ‘slave’ and ‘wench’, it was revealed earlier in the year.
NYT staff deemed these loaded terms that could cause offence, and therefore felt they had to go.
NYT communications director Jordan Cohen told MailOnline: ‘We are updating the word list over time to remove obscure words to keep the puzzle accessible to more people, as well as insensitive or offensive words.’
The New York Times acquired the hugely popular game in January 2022. Its Manhattan headquarters is pictured
Other removed upcoming words include fibre (likely because this is the British spelling of the word, rather than the American spelling) and, rather more curiously, pupal.
NYT has also removed some offensive racist and sexual slurs from the list of acceptable guesses, BoingBoing reported, including ‘pussy’ and ‘whore’.
It’s been just over three months since the NYT acquired Wordle, the hugely popular puzzle created by Wales-born software engineer Josh Wardle.
Wardle created the game for his girlfriend Palak Shah, who loves word puzzles.
At the beginning of November, the simple game – which involves guessing a five-letter word in six tries – had only 90 players; now there are 300,000 who play it every day, the NYT has said.
Since Wordle’s takeover, fans have expressed fears that it will go behind a paywall sooner or later, like much of the NYT’s website
NYT has said it will ‘initially remain free to new and existing players’.
