Early guesses exist to gather information, not to be right. A first guess that turns five tiles gray but rules out five common letters did its job; a lucky-feeling guess that repeats letters you already confirmed wasted a turn. The math of elimination is the spine of the starting-words article, and it applies to every mode.

An amber tile doesn't just say the letter is present, it eliminates that letter from that column, which often prunes more candidates than a purple does. Deduction from negative space is the single biggest skill gap between casual and fast solvers. Pair these articles with the per-mode guides for the exact rules and scoring.

Repeated letters, rare letters, and near-miss neighbors are what make a puzzle hard, which is why our Word of the Day archive breaks down real answers letter by letter. Studying yesterday's answer is quiet training for tomorrow's.