When Josh Wardle was designing a game for his partner to enjoy during coronavirus lockdown, it seems unlikely the New York based software developer realized he was about to launch a global sensation.
Yet it came to pass, with Wordle becoming wildly popular after Wardle, originally from Wales in the U.K., first released his puzzle to the public in October 2021.
Part of the game’s appeal, arguably, is its simplicity, which means almost anyone can play even if they’re not experienced with word challenges. Each day a new five letter word is released, which the player is tasked with guessing in six attempts or less.
After each guess the letters light up, showing how accurate the attempt was. If a letter goes green it is both in the word, and in the correct position. Yellow means it’s in the word, but has been put in the wrong place, whilst gray means it doesn’t feature at all.
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Speaking to Newsweek in January, Wardle revealed his game first took off in a big way in New Zealand.
He said: “For obvious reasons, Wordle has mostly been popular in English-speaking countries. After all, it is a language-based game. When it launched, it actually took hold in New Zealand first […] which is something I’ve never experienced before.
“The Twittersphere over there is quite small, so everyone tends to be rather interconnected. That means that if one person shares something, a lot of others are likely to see it as well, which is how Wordle gained such momentum.”
Also in January, The New York Times purchased Wordle for a seven-figure sum, though the game remains free to play.
If you enjoy Wordle you might like to try other online puzzles, such as Spellspire and editing game Typochondria.
The answer to today’s Wordle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll down with caution if you want to work it out for yourself. To help you solve today’s Wordle, Newsweek has provided some hints and tips on the latest puzzle.
‘Wordle’ #488 Tips and Clues for Thursday, October 20
Wordle players can use these five hints to solve puzzle #488.
Hint #1: Today’s answer contains two vowels.
Hint #2: There are no repeated letters.
Hint #3: The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word as “a firm durable twilled usually cotton fabric woven with colored warp and white filling threads.”
Hint #4: A synonym for today’s word is “dungarees,” according to thesaurus.com.
Hint #5: Think jeans.
‘Wordle’ #488 Answer for Thursday, October 20
The answer to today’s Wordle is “Denim.”
Wordle is known for providing interesting words, and today it certainly didn’t disappoint!
The two vowels certainly helped, though as a word that didn’t immediately spring to mind (well, in our case anyway) it was a tough puzzle! Did you get it? Congratulations if so. If not, commiserations—but fear not because Newsweek will be along with another pack of Wordle hints and tips tomorrow.
The next Wordle puzzle will be available at 7 p.m. ET, when the daily update occurs.
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