Wordle decided to abort it.
Amid controversy surrounding the the Supreme Court’s leaked new Roe v. Wade draft ruling, popular game Wordle has scrapped “fetus” as a possible answer to Monday’s game — calling it “unintentional and a coincidence” — although many users reported still being able to submit it.
“We take our role seriously as a place to entertain and escape, and we want Wordle to remain distinct from the news,” the New York Times — which acquired the game three months ago — wrote on its site regarding the measure.
Monday’s Wordle of the Day was changed from “fetus” to a less politically charged answer. The decision came after it was leaked that the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade — a landmark 1973 ruling granting women federal abortion rights — sparking fierce pro-choice protests across the nation.
According to the Times, the discrepancy in solutions was due to the fact that “fetus” had been in the database prior to the Times’ January acquisition, and they were unable to jettison the straggler.
“This is entirely unintentional and a coincidence — today’s original answer was loaded into Wordle last year,” the Times explained. “Because of the current Wordle technology, it can be difficult to change words that have already been loaded into the game.”
Wordle has scrapped “fetus” as a possible answer to Monday’s game — although many users reported still being able to submit it.In Pictures via Getty ImagesThey continued, “When we discovered last week that this particular word would be featured today, we switched it for as many solvers as possible.”
They explained that as a result, users who refreshed their browser received the new, nontriggering answer, while those who didn’t refresh still saw “fetus.”
However, despite the Times’ efforts at repealing its solution, flummoxed players were still getting the “outdated answer” for Wordle No. 234.
“Anyone know why people are getting two different #Wordle answers today?” wrote one flabbergasted player of the daily brain teaser, in which players attempt to guess a five-letter vocab word in six tries.
“‘Hey @nytimes — WTF? My wife gets [redacted] and I get FETUS,” spluttered another.
“When we discovered last week that this particular word would be featured today, we switched it for as many solvers as possible,” the Times said, in an effort to remain “escape” from recent news.AP This isn’t the first time the Times has attempted to execute a solution switcheroo. In February, the newspaper changed the answer for Wordle No. 241 from “agora” to “aroma” after Wordlers complained that the former was too obscure. Meanwhile, in March, the Wordle No. 284 answer was updated from “harry” to “stove” for the same reason. However, in both instances, Wordlers report being able to submit the original answer.
The Times has managed to successfully cull offensive terms, including “lynch,” “slave,” “bitch,” “sluts” and other pejoratives as part of their ongoing rebranding campaign.
