‘Outdated’ Wordle answer changed amid US Supreme Court case
The New York Times said it had swapped the word to something different for ‘as many solvers as possible’.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The answer to Monday’s Wordle has been changed amid speculation that the US Supreme Court could lift the legal right of Americans to an abortion.
The New York Times, which bought the game for at least one million US dollars earlier this year, said “fetus” – the American spelling of “foetus” – is “outdated”.
It changed the answer to “shine” for “as many solvers as possible”, but issues with Wordle’s software meant some were left with the original solution.
The company said in a statement: “Some users may see an outdated answer that seems closely connected to a major recent news event.
“This is entirely unintentional and a coincidence – today’s original answer was loaded into Wordle last year.
“Because of the current Wordle technology, it can be difficult to change words that have already been loaded into the game.
“When we discovered last week that this particular word would be featured today, we switched it for as many solvers as possible.”
It comes after the leak of a Supreme Court ruling which would overturn the landmark Roe v Wade case, scrapping abortion rights that have been guaranteed in the US since the 1970s.
If the draft is finalised, it is expected to prompt abortion bans across roughly half of the 50 states.
The Times statement continued: “When we acquired Wordle in January, it had been built for a relatively small group of users.
“We’re now busy revamping Wordle’s technology so that everyone always receives the same word.”