The Times - UK (2022-02-16)

the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 17

News

TMS

[email protected] | @timesdiary

Apocalypse

now, please

If Russia pulls back from the brink of

war, the news may not be universally

welcomed in Westminster. One peer

might be actively disappointed. The

crossbencher Lord Truscott recently

asked the government what its

reasons were for “believing that a

thermonuclear war with Russia

would be ‘an unwelcome outcome’ ”.

Apocalypses have often proven

popular in parliament. In May 2004,

three MPs signed an early day

motion that “looked forward to the

day when the inevitable asteroid

slams into the Earth” and wipes out

humanity. One supporter was the

ever-consistent Jeremy Corbyn who,

even then, wanted an extinction for

the many, not the few.

Ukrainians have been preparing for

an invasion for years. Douglas Oliver,

a reader, tells me that in 2018 he

bought a doormat in Lviv which had

Vladimir Putin’s face on it. The mat

reads “Welcome — wipe your feet”.

party political puzzle

Yesterday’s story of Downing Street

in the coalition era brought a

reminiscence of territorial tensions

between Tories and Lib Dems. Once,

George Osborne, above, came for a

meeting with the deputy prime

minister Nick Clegg. While waiting

outside, Osborne found a Rubik’s

Cube that had one side all in Lib

Dem orange. Osborne got to work

on it but, by the time Clegg arrived,

the puzzle was no closer to being

solved. The only difference was that

the one completed side was now in

Tory blue.

dame judi sets an example

Dame Judi Dench is a role model

for actors and, while filming the

Oscar-nominated Belfast, she took

its 11-year-old star under her wing.

Jude Hill tells Empire magazine

that the 87-year-old actress showed

him how to behave on a film set,

namely by telling rude jokes and

indulging in other vices. “A lot of

them were inappropriate,” says

Hill of Dench’s quips, before he gets

on to her gambling. “We had a bet

one day on who could guess how

many takes we’d need to do for a

scene.” It certainly got him onside.

“I won [the bet],” he says, “and she

gave me £2 — which I’ll never

spend.”

The film director Edgar Wright says

that filming in your childhood home

can have advantages. Fifteen years

ago he shot Hot Fuzz in Wells, where

he feared being recognised, At 3am

during one shoot a grim-faced couple

came up to him and said: “Are you

Edgar Wright?” He nodded and they

asked: “Did you used to live at 40

Southover?” He feared some reprisal

for a youthful misdemeanour.

Instead, a bag was handed over with

the words: “Here’s your post.”

diarist’s dedication

Patrick Kidd has sent me greetings

from his half-term hols. It was a

photo from Victoria Embankment

Gardens (which, I note, is

suspiciously proximate to the Savoy

hotel) of a bench whose plaque read

“In memory of Frankie Thorax —

always dull and usually violent”. No

explanation is apparent, but it

seems London has many intriguing

benches. One, by the fishing lake in

Crystal Palace Park, is dedicated to

Nina Theresa Jenkinson and says:

“She took pleasure in annoying the

fisherman by feeding the ducks.”

jack blackburn

For Wordle players, part of the game’s

appeal is its simplicity. Everyone trying

to guess the same five-letter word in

fewer than six attempts.

But yesterday’s edition appeared to

mark a break with the concept as

players spotted there were two possible

correct answers, depending on which

platform they were using.

The issue stemmed from some puz-

zlers using the version on the website of

the new owners, The New York Times,

which recently bought the rights to the

game for a seven-figure sum. Others,

however, were still playing from the

original server. The discrepancy is

thought to be due to the NYT amending

the original puzzle and removing

“obscure” words.

Yesterday, NYT players would have

been correct with “aroma” whereas

players on the original site were guess-

ing “agora”.

When so much of the game is the

social element, with puzzlers sharing

their score, it can dampen the achieve-

ment of guessing quickly, end a long

winning streak or remove crucial clues

for those who know which word their

friends always open with.

Since the newspaper acquired Word-

le it has been beset by controversy with

complaints from players that the game

has become much harder. A spokes-

man insisted to The Guardian: “Nothing

has changed about the game play.”

It has since emerged that words

deemed “insensitive or offensive” have

been removed by the NYT as potential

guesses, including lynch, shoot, slave

and wench.

The game was launched by a pro-

grammer called Josh Wardle for his

puzzle-loving wife, and soon became an

internet craze.

Players have one five-letter word to

guess each day and they can share their

score on social media.

Nicole Hayes, an author from Aus-

tralia, wrote: “No idea if this is the word

others are complaining about because

that especially fun part of the game

seems to have been killed off.”

Another social media user said:

“People getting different words on

Wordle? NYT managed to ruin the one

good thing in our lives.”

The NYT said: “We are updating the

word list over time to remove obscure

words to keep the puzzle accessible to

more people, as well as insensitive or

offensive words.

“Solvers on the old word list can

likely update to the new list by refresh-

ing their browsers.”

Wordle players get

a whiff of scandal

Laurence Sleator

AROM A

AGOR A

Yesterday’s game had two answers,

depending on the platform you used