Mathieu Labrecque

A Wordle refresh

When Wordle was introduced in 2021, its creator Josh Wardle had no way of predicting that it would soon become a global phenomenon. He made a had made a list of five-letter words with the help of his wife, with the goal that all would be widely familiar to the general public.

The New York Times acquired Wordle in January 2020 and made no changes to the gameplay. It was still free, and users could play the game the same way they always had. The original list, for the most part, remained intact. When Tracy Bennett began editing Wordle for The Times later that year, she removed some words that seemed too obscure or potentially offensive and added words that had been overlooked (like SQUID and KAZOO).

While many solvers play Wordle casually, some hard-core Wordlers have documented which words have been used already, to rule out guessing them in the future. For instance, even though Wordle Bot often recommended using CRANE as a starting word, many solvers switched to a new word once CRANE ran as the Wordle word in 2022. What’s the point of guessing a word that has already run when you know it won’t run again?

This changed this year when Games decided to begin recycling words. Tracy knew this would have to happen eventually — there are a finite number of five-letter words, after all, especially familiar ones. The question was when, and how to make the change with minimal impact on our solvers.

Tracy knew if we waited until the last possible day to recycle words, at some point we’d be running obscure and tough words more often than not. She said that she worried about alienating solvers who would start feeling frustrated. If we ran out of words before reusing any, it wouldn’t feel like a puzzle for the people who were keeping track of the words that had been used.

The plan, then, was to begin slowly sprinkling in words that had been used before. The first reuse was on Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, and was a playful nod to the 1993 film of the same name. And the first word reused was CIGAR — the very first Wordle word, from on June 19, 2021.

ASK A QUESTION

Solve Friday’s Crossword on Easy Mode!

Grid by James McCarron and Rachel Souza/Clues written by Christina Iverson

In today’s Wordplay column, Sam Corbin writes about solving with confidence. For expert hints on today’s puzzle, read her column.

Were you able to solve the Friday puzzle with Easy Mode? We want your input! Share your experience with us by email.

Easy vs. Hard

In today’s daily Friday puzzle, the clue for 14-Down is [Top guns?]. I like the play on words here, with “top” making you think of “best” when the clue is actually hinting at a top that you wear. I went with [Launchers of some team merch] for Easy Mode, which was still colorful but a little more direct.

PLAY TODAY’S GAMES

How are we doing?
We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to crosswordeditors@nytimes.com.

Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here.

P.S. The answer to Easy vs. Hard is T-SHIRT CANNONS.

If you received this newsletter from someone else, subscribe here.

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for Easy Mode from The New York Times.

To stop receiving Easy Mode, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings.

Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app

Connect with us on:

Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices

The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018