Is Wordle getting harder? Viral game tests players after New York Times takeover

What began as a daily slice of bliss is in danger of turning into something of a strain, some say.

Some players of the viral word game Wordle have complained that it has become harder since it was bought by the New York Times late last month.

The addictive online game swept the internet over the past few weeks, capturing the hearts and minds of millions, before it was quickly secured by the news giant for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.

But several Wordle players have said they feel that it’s getting more difficult to guess the target word.

“It must be a coincidence, but the NY Times puzzles are hard and suddenly Wordle has questionable words,” author and columnist Anna Spargo-Ryan tweeted over the weekend.

“Is it me or has Wordle got so much harder since NYT took it over?” fellow author Michelle Elman asked.

Dr Kirstin Ferguson, a researcher and writer, also questioned the recent change, asking: “The words seem a little harder since the move to NYT … or maybe I am imagining it?”

The feeling was shared by other fans of the game.

Tiger Webb, an editorial adviser and researcher at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation who specialises in language, isn’t so sure the game’s complexity has increased.

“Two things could be going on,” he said. People may be seeing “a pattern where there may not be any and maybe in the backend something could be different with the sale to the New York Times … but we don’t know”.

Webb acknowledged that with the puzzle’s transfer to the New York Times, the publication may want to “put their mark on it”, adding: “You’d have to imagine there’d be some element of curation there.”

“It could be harder, they could have changed something, we don’t know. But even if they haven’t changed anything … open a dictionary at a random page and you will find a five-letter word in English you don’t know,” he added.

The New York Times has denied any changes have been made to Wordle since the acquisition. “Nothing has changed about the game play,” New York Times communications director Jordan Cohen said in an email.

Created by a Brooklyn-based Reddit engineer Josh Wardle and launched in mid-October, Wordle gives players just six guesses to determine a five-letter word that changes every day.

With the “elegance of a daily newspaper puzzle”, the game’s simplicity is its charm.

Wardle, who designed the game for his puzzle-loving partner, recently spoke of feeling overwhelmed by the game’s viral success. “It going viral doesn’t feel great, to be honest. I feel a sense of responsibility for the players. I feel I really owe it to them to keep things running and make sure everything’s working correctly,” Wardle said.

Worldle’s popularity continues to rise. From 90 daily players in November to 300,000 at the beginning of January, the game is thought to have now attracted nearly 3 million players across the world.