Like many websites, we publish Wordle clues and answers every day (opens in new tab). This is because every day Wordle players are looking for clues and answers to the Wordle puzzle of the day. To put it simply, many people cheat on Wordle.

But I don't think they cheat so that they don't have to solve the puzzle themselves. There is no point in playing Wordle every day if all you have to do is look up the answer; Wordle keeps track of how many times you have played, what percentage you have won, and your current winning streak. If you make even one mistake, your win streak is reset to zero, and if you go weeks or months without missing a single word, it can hurt you a lot.

So, okay, CA_ER, CAPER, CABER, CATER, maybe even CAGER. Your record of 71 days in a row is also in jeopardy. Don't be silly! A little peek at the answer and you won't have to suffer the indignity of having to start your streak record all over again from scratch.

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, Zoe Bell, executive producer of New York Times Games, said that the NYT will receive in January 2022 from creator Josh Wardle (new tab ), whom the NYT acquired for a seven-figure sum from Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), about Wordle's first year. During his talk, Bell revealed what has been the most difficult Wordle word so far.

It was "PARER."

On average, about 15% of the players broke their winning streak each day. But on September 16, PARER tripped up a whopping 60% of players. The word is what Bell called a "skyscraper word," shaped like a skyscraper with gaps between grids (people probably guessed PAGER or PALER or PAPER). Additionally, the word has a letter used twice, which is always tricky in Wordle.

And who on earth would say parer? Probably everyone would call it a paring knife. I don't remember if I lost my Wordle that day, but I probably did.

Words like parer are probably one of the reasons why Wordle is accused of getting harder after the NYT acquisition, but Bell confirmed in his GDC talk that the NYT did not make the game harder. Several "non-family-friendly" words were removed from Josh Wardle's original list (LYNCH, WENCH, SLAVE, etc.), but the NYT is still using Wardle's original list of 2,300 words The NYT appointed a Wordle editor in October, after which these words to keep track of them, but has not done anything to make the daily puzzle more difficult.

In acquiring Wordle, Bell emphasized the NYT's "do no harm" philosophy. He said that he would not tamper with the game's formula, that he would not change the look of the game except to add the title font and a few links to Wordle's results page, and that he would keep it free to play. It seems to have worked: according to Bell, in July, when Wordle began tracking player statistics across all browsers and devices, Wordle was the biggest driver of NYT registrations across the country for several days.

Wordle also led to an increase in paid subscriptions to the New York Times games collection, which includes crossword puzzles, mini crosswords, and another word game, Spelling Bee. In fact, in 2022, 35% of those who signed up for NYT games did so because of Wordle, says Bell, and while Wordle is still free, the results appear to be paying off.