Spy chiefs in the UK have become embroiled in a Wordle etiquette row over the social posting of results — only for one to apologise with a five-star word.
As Wordle grabbed the world’s imagination and became a $1 million-plus idea, gamers have been posting their scores on Twitter and Facebook.
What started as a trickle became a stream, with ever more players loading their results on to their feeds, until MI6 boss Richard Moore summoned up his best internet diplomacy skills and shouted out a warning.
He tweeted on Wednesday that he was “thinking of unfollowing those who post their #Wordle results”.
Another UK spy agency, GCHQ, quickly tweeted its response with a mocked-up graphic of the game with the word “sorry” on it.
The online puzzle game requires players to guess a five-letter word within six attempts, using different coloured bricks to indicate if guessed letters are part of the answer.
Once solved, players are able to share their results on social media via rows of the same coloured bricks but with the letters removed, so others can see how they did without giving away the answer.
Software engineer Josh Wardle first created the game for his partner after they began playing word puzzles during lockdown. It has become an online phenomenon with millions of daily users.
On Monday, Mr Wardle announced that his creation had been bought by The New York Times Company for a sum “in the low seven figures".
Welsh-born Mr Wardle, who lives in New York, thanked users on Twitter for sharing touching stories about the effect the game has had on their lives and relationships and added that he was “thrilled” about the takeover.
In February 2021, GCHQ went viral after responding to a tweet by the breakfast cereal brand Weetabix, which had suggested eating Heinz baked beans with the wholegrain cereal.
Replying to the tweet, the official GCHQ Twitter posted an emoji of a detective and wrote: “We found … no intelligence.”
