A puzzle lover whose job it is to curate the daily words for Wordle has opened up about her role, including the words people tend to complain about the most. Tracy Bennett, from Michigan in the US, has always loved puzzles, and began creating her own in her 40s.
In 2020, Tracy was appointed as associate puzzle editor at The New York Times, a role she describes as her 'dream job'. The publication acquired popular word game Wordle from software engineer Josh Wardle early in 2022, and Tracy is now responsible for choosing the all-important daily five-letter word.
Speaking with the Today programme, Tracy revealed that most complaints the team receive are about 'broken streaks', but fans also regularly express displeasure when words are considered to be 'unfair'.
Tracy said: "People don't like when a word feels unfair in that way that you have four letters in place, and there are still a lot of letters that could complete that word."
Her team also fields complaints from those annoyed 'about secondary meanings'. This is an area Tracy focuses on as an editor, and although she tries not to miss anything, she admits 'editing is fallible just like everything else'.
More obscure words, including those which aren't familiar to many people, have also sparked complaints in the past, with Tracy giving 'parer' and 'rupee' as examples. Regional and American words have also previously prompted outrage.
She continued: "A word that is regional, like for example a really American word. I got complaints about 'condo', for example, based on it being kind of an American concept. Regional or foreign language words. We did remove a Latin word from the list."
Wordle is a daily puzzle game whereby the player has six tries to guess a five-letter word. Various celebrities are reported to be fans of the hit game, including Doctor Who actor David Tennant and TV presenter Richard Osman.
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