Is your Wordle answer different from others? Know what NYT just did and how to fix it

In the last few days, many regular players of the game have taken to social media to complain about receiving a different Wordle answer compared to the majority. The most recent culprit in this was Wordle 324 on Monday, where players were greeted with one of the two different answers to the puzzle, creating confusion. It led to the New York Times to issue a statement explaining the reason behind this chaos and apologizing for it. The NYT also shared a tip that can potentially stop this glitch from happening to users. So, what is behind the mystery of multiple Wordle answers on the same day and how to fix it? Read on to find out.

Ever since the game was acquired by the NYT, the publication has been quite hands-on with the answer list of the game. There were six different instances in the past where it pulled out a word and replaced it with another. But why is the American publication house doing it? It appears that the reason behind removal of certain words has to do with certain connotations around the word or due to the word playing a role in real world conflicts. For instance, the word SLAVE was removed from the game due to the racist connotation of the word associated with the African-American citizens of US.

As NYT changes Wordle answer, Twitter erupts in chaos

On Monday, another word was pulled from the game. The word in this instance was FETUS, and given the circumstances in US around abortion laws, the word was deemed too controversial to be kept in the game, although the timing of the word appearing was purely coincidental. The Wordle answer was replaced with SHINE, however not everyone got the new answer. And this is where the confusion began.

Paige, a Twitter user, wrote, “I HAVE HAD A DIFFERENT WORDLE WORD THAN EVERYONE ELSE TWO DAYS IN A ROW. @nytimes THIS ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE”. Another user tweeted, “Seems to be two different words today. Same timezone, different result as another”.

Later, the NYT released a statement explaining the reason behind pulling the word, apologizing for the inconvenience and explaining how players may avoid different Wordle answers in the future.

Explaining the decision to remove the word, it said, “At New York Times Games, we take our role seriously as a place to entertain and escape, and we want Wordle to remain distinct from the news”. But even as the word was pulled, some players ended up with the original answer. This happened as Wordle is a browser-based game and if a user has not updated their browser, they will not get the newer version of the puzzle.

NYT tells how to avoid different Wordle answers

Revealing how to stay updated with NYT changes to the game, it said, “You won’t receive the outdated version if you have refreshed your browser window”. For those of you confused on how to refresh your browser window, you simply need to close the Wordle tab after playing the game and reload it from scratch in order to see the new changes. If you keep the tab open and never close it, you will see the older answer, which will be different than others. You can also use a shortcut- press CTRL+F5 at the same time. Or even go to the Settings and delete cache. This is a big action and it will impact other pages too so, you should be careful before using it.

“We’re now busy revamping Wordle’s technology so that everyone always receives the same word. We are committed to ensuring that tens of millions of people have a gratifying and consistent experience, every day,” NYT added.