Players despair at Wordle 249 result

The New York Times (NYT) once again faces the wrath of Wordle players as many take to Twitter to grumble about Wednesday’s result.

The viral word game, which was recently taken over by the NYT, is played by millions of people – but some have sworn off after complaining that it has become “too hard” to guess the right word.

Wordle was created by New York City-based software engineer Josh Wardle and players flock to the simple online game once a day to get their six chances at guessing the five-letter word of the day.

But since it was acquired by the NYT for an undisclosed seven-figure sum earlier this month, many people have accused the publication of making the game “elitist”.

A number of glitches have also occurred since the takeover, including accidentally wiping player’s streaks on the first day Wordle moved to the NYT’s website and giving two words of the day instead of the same for everyone globally.

On Wednesday, people have expressed frustration over the word of the day having too many possible variations in either the first or fourth letter.

Some were able to get the word quicker than others, although most appear to have used up nearly all six tries to guess the correct word. Others who were unsuccessful posted memes about being upset with the game and the NYT.

(*Warning: Spoilers ahead*)

The word of the day is “trove”, which means a valuable collection or discovery, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Players who did not guess the correct first letter could have guessed other words including “prove”, “grove”, or “drove” instead.

Some players were unable to guess the fourth letter correctly, and may have guessed words such as “trode” and “troke” instead.

The NYT has been blasted previously for using words that seemed common but contained too many possible variations if just one letter was incorrect. Other similar words included “swill” and “shake”.

One player who got the first letter wrong until their fourth try said sarcastically that when they first started the game, they thought they had gotten lucky and would be able to “finish in two” moves.

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Another wrote simply: “Hmph. FU Wordle. Too many possibilities.”

A third said they “never would’ve guessed” the right word, but they came “so darn close”.

Award-winning DJ Zedd also tweeted his frustration at not getting the fourth letter correct throughout his gameplay, which ultimately cost him a victory. He wrote: “WTF IS THIS S*** GTFO!!!!”

But for those who were successful, victory was sweet.

One person who guessed the right word on their last go wrote: “Too close for comfort for me. Glad I got it on the last try.”

Another posted a GIF of someone dancing and said: “NO WAY!”

If you’re looking for tips and tricks, a linguistics expert has some top advice on how to master the game and what the best starting words are to maximise your chances of winning.