With protests raging against a possible decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, the word ‘fetus’ suddenly took on great significance.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades
“Some users may see an outdated answer that seems closely connected to a major recent news event,” the note from Everdeen Mason, the masthead’s editorial director for games, said. “This is entirely unintentional and a coincidence – today’s original answer was loaded into Wordle last year.”
Mason wrote in her note that the Times treats the games section “as a place to entertain and escape” and seeks to ensure that Wordle remains “distinct from the news”.
But in light of the fact the US Supreme Court appears to be on the brink of overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protects women’s right to abortion, the word “fetus” – which was her note didn’t actually explicitly mention – has suddenly become about as newsy as it gets.
The trouble is, changing a word in the pre-programmed forward list that runs to 2027 is “difficult”, according to Mason. Even so, “when we discovered last week that this particular word would be featured today, we switched it for as many solvers as possible.”
Players who had refreshed their browser window would get the new word, “shine”, but those who didn’t would get the original word.
Deeply traumatic for all concerned, we’re sure. But rest assured, the Wordle elves are busy tinkering away at the software to ensure nothing as dreadful as a double answer – or the news – can ever intrude upon the game again.
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