Wordle saves pensioner held hostage in her basement
And other stories from the stranger side of life

The viral word game Wordle is thought to have saved an 80-year-old US woman who was imprisoned in her basement bathroom for 17 hours by an intruder who broke into her house in the dead of night. Police in Illinois were alerted to the predicament of Denyse Holt after she did not text her daughter with her Wordle score, reported The Times. Holt was saved and the man arrested. The local police chief said he did not play Wordle himself, but added: “I may have to start now”.
False teeth returned 11 years later
A man’s missing false teeth turned up in the post 11 years after he vomited them into a Spanish bin. Paul Bishop, 63, last saw the false gnashers while celebrating a friend’s birthday in Spain in 2011. After bountiful boozing, he threw up into a bin and lost his teeth in the process. Spanish authorities and the British council used biological information to locate the teeth’s owner and send them back to him. Bishop told the Daily Star that he “couldn’t believe it”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump denies flushing papers down the loo
Donald Trump has denied allegations that he often flushed documents down a bathroom toilet at the White House. A new book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman claims staff found documents blocking a toilet and had to call in a plumber who found “wads of clumped-up printed wet paper” in the system. The former US president described the report as “another fake story”, said the Daily Telegraph.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
How to figure out when your tax refund will arrive
The explainer How long do you have to wait between submitting your return and receiving the money?
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
'It also means the start of a virtuous ecological cycle'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Canada beats US in charged 4 Nations hockey final
Speed Read 'You can't take our country — and you can't take our game,' Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted after the game
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Who is the Hat Man? 'Shadow people' and sleep paralysis
In Depth 'Sleep demons' have plagued our dreams throughout the centuries, but the explanation could be medical
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Russia's shadow war in Europe
Talking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
By The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published