At the dawn of humanity our ancestors operated on the idea that correlation implies causation. For instance, if Jerry ate some new berries and then Jerry didn’t wake up again, the implication was that the berries Jerry ate were not safe.

Indeed, this way of thinking likely helped humanity flourish but we are wiser now and correlation does not imply causation. At least, we had hoped that this was common knowledge.

Everybody’s favourite word game Wordle has been the subject of conspiracy lately following its purchase from Josh Wardle by the New York Times for a “low seven figure” sum. The conspiracy? Wordle became more difficult following its purchase.

While it might feel as if Wordle’s answers have become more difficult, the New York Times says it hasn’t changed anything.

“Nothing has changed about the game play”, New York Times communications director Jordan Cohen told CNET.

Indeed, using a list of every Wordle answer there will ever be, we can see that the list still works and therefore the New York Times has indeed not changed anything.

That having been said, CNET also reports that some words may no longer exist within Wordle, namely, offensive words which the New York Times has removed.

So why does Wordle feel more difficult? Quite simply, the words are a little trickier, especially the solutions for the last three days.

Something that was an issue though was Wordle not carrying streaks over from the original website when it was moved to the New York Times domain. That issue has since been resolved and players should see their streaks as they were before the move.

With all this talk of Wordle getting more difficult we’re waiting with gleeful anticipation for a word that has no vowels. We suspect many folks will be upset on that day.

Remember folks, correlation doesn’t imply causation.