Wordle Blocks Certain Words Following New York Times Switch

gamerant.com:

It is no secret that the puzzle game Wordle became a worldwide phenomenon since its release in late 2021, hooking players to its mind-boggling yet straightforward gameplay. Due to Wordle's popularity, the game was recently acquired by The New York Times, and the award-winning newspaper has since introduced several changes to the game.

Several days ago, players noticed how there are now fewer words that can be guessed in Wordle than before. Specifically, certain words that some speculate were removed because they can be spelled differently in other countries, such as «FIBRE» and «HUMOUR.» However, The New York Times confirmed that more words are being removed from Wordle, especially those that may cause offense or denote a derogatory meaning.

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In an email sent to Polygon, a New York Times representative stated that «offensive words will always be omitted from consideration.» The representative also revealed that since Wordle has just been acquired by The New York Times, the publication is still in the process of removing offensive words from the game. At the time of writing, players will no longer be able to use gendered and ethnic slurs and other offensive profanities. Doing so would prompt the game to flash a «not in word list» message, encouraging players to come up with a different guess.

It is also worth pointing out that not all NSFW words have been taken out of Wordle. For example, players can still guess certain words that are more seen as naughty than offensive, such as certain swear words and even vulgar slang for male and female genitalia, though these may be removed as well. Finally, it is worth mentioning that this move by The New York Times is not