When Josh Wardle first created Wordle during the coronavirus lockdown, he was only trying to design a game “for me and my partner to enjoy.”
The New York-based software developer had no idea that after the game was released to the public in October 2021, it would become a runaway success and be played every day across the world.
Following its public debut, Wordle exploded from 90 users on November 1, 2021, to 300,000 on January 2, 2022, according to figures by Statista. Soon after this, The New York Times purchased the game from Wardle for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
One major reason behind Wordle‘s success is its simplicity, which allows newcomers to quickly pick up the game. Players are tasked with working out a five-letter word in six guesses or fewer using a color-coded system. If a Wordle player guesses a letter that’s in the right place, that tile will turn green. If the letter appears in the word, but not where the user has guessed it, it will turn yellow. If the letter does not appear in the word at all, the tile will turn gray.
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Speaking to Newsweek, Dr. Erhan Aslan, an associate professor of applied linguistics at the University of Reading in the U.K., gave some tips on playing the game.
He said: “One thing that I think is important in this game is the starting word chosen. Starting off with words that include commonly used vowels (e.g., e, a), consonants (e.g., r, t) and sound sequences might be helpful. Choosing a word that starts with q, z, j, or x, for instance, may not be the best choice.
“As you get more feedback after a few guesses, users need to draw on some knowledge of phonics to narrow down or eliminate some words that they might be thinking. For example, if the second letter of the target word is l (indicated by green) and the player feels that the word starts with a consonant, they will need to know that there are only a few consonant cluster possibilities (e.g., bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl).”
Newsweek has provided some clues below for today’s Wordle puzzle. The answer will be revealed at the end of this article, so please scroll down with caution if you want to work it out for yourself.
‘Wordle’ #998 Hints for Wednesday, March 13 Game
Hint #1: Today’s answer contains two vowels.
Hint #2: There is one duplicated letter.
Hint #3: It is both an adjective and a noun.
Hint #4: Today’s word starts with the letter “L.”
Hint #5: Synonyms include “community” and “resident.”
‘Wordle’ #998 Answer for Wednesday, March 13 Game
The answer to today’s Wordle is “local.”
According to Merriam-Webster, the adjective definition is “characterized by or relating to position in space: having a definite spatial form or location” and “primarily serving the needs of a particular limited district.”
The noun definition is “a local person or thing: such as a local public conveyance (such as a train or an elevator)” and “a local or particular branch, lodge, or chapter of an organization (such as a labor union).”
Wordle is released every day at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back tomorrow with another round of hints and tips.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.