Wordle, the viral word game designed by New York software engineer Josh Wardle, shows few signs of losing its extraordinary popularity some 19 months after it was first released to the public, in October 2021.
The game is very simple, doubtless helping to explain its appeal. Each day the player has to work out a new five letter word, in six attempts or less. After each guess the letters light up in color, indicating how close to the answer you were. You have solved the puzzle when all the letters go green.
Speaking to Newsweek in January 2022, Wardle explained why he decided to use five letter words for his puzzles. He said: “I figured out that five letters and six tries was the ideal sweet spot. It’s just limited enough to feel challenging and to make you think, but most of the time people still manage to solve it. So, you feel a real sense of real accomplishment.”
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Joel C. Wallenberg, a senior lecturer in language change at the University of York in the U.K., told Newsweek Wordle‘s popularity reflects the longstanding human interest in language.
He said: “Language games poke at how conscious (or unconscious) we are of our own linguistic processes, and maybe give us a little more insight into them than we had before. That might be one reason why humans, maybe universally, have always invented and enjoyed language games!”
Wordle‘s popularity helped inspire a number of similar online games, such as Worldle for geography enthusiasts and even Taylordle for Taylor Swift fans.
The answer to today’s puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll down with caution if you want to work it out for yourself.
‘Wordle’ #706, Clues for Friday, May 26
Newsweek has put together five clues to help you solve today’s Wordle puzzle.
Hint #1: The answer contains two vowels.
Hint #2: There are no repeated letters.
Hint #3: Used to describe a type of animal.
Hint #4: Can also be deployed as an insult.
Hint #5: The final letter is a vowel.
‘Wordle’ #706, Answer for Friday, May 26
The answer to today’s Wordle is “swine.”
Did you get it? As a relatively common word, with two vowels, this certainly wasn’t the toughest challenge Wordle has thrown our way, but it was still a good puzzle. But please don’t be put off if you struggled to get the answer. One of the best things about Wordle is seeing if you can improve your score, and Newsweek will be back on Saturday with another round of hints and tips.
What Does ‘Swine’ Mean?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “swine” as: “Any of various stout-bodied short-legged omnivorous artiodactyl mammals (family Suidae) with a thick bristly skin and a long flexible snout” or “a contemptible person.”
For example: “The man who cut the line really was a swine.”