Wordle went from a gift to a global habit
Josh Wardle built the once-a-day word game for his partner; The New York Times bought it in 2022 and millions now play daily.
Today's briefing: a few timeless things worth knowing about words, language, AI, and puzzles. (Archive edition.)
Josh Wardle built the once-a-day word game for his partner; The New York Times bought it in 2022 and millions now play daily.
The newest systems handle text, images, audio, and video together, rather than one kind of input at a time.
Short, regular word challenges keep vocabulary sharp and give your memory a friendly daily workout.
It adds hundreds of new words a year -- from 'doomscrolling' to 'touch grass' -- a living record of how we speak.
Yet any scramble can be solved in 20 moves or fewer -- a limit mathematicians nicknamed 'God's number.'
'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo' is a valid English sentence -- a beloved linguistic brain-teaser.