Guess 2 was trying to find homes for the U and Y from guess 1, and checking up on S (the most common starting letter in English), T (common in it's own right and often in a ST combination) and D, another common consonants. Guess 2 onfirmed Y in position, and U not in position 3. The misses on S, T, and D were actually quite helpful, as that narrowed down the remaining possibilities greatly when I switched from investigation to solution after guess 3.
Guess 3 verified U in position 2, established that there isn't another vowel lurking somewhere in the word, and added G and L to the list of consonants searched.
After guess 3 the solution mode option was on. I came up with the following list of possible solutions:
- LUMPY
- LUNKY
- LUCKY
- FUZZY
- FUNNY
- FUNKY
- JUNKY
- JUMPY
- MURKY
- PUNKY
- HUNKY
That's eleven possibilities, with three remaining guesses, so one-by-one elimination is more likely to end in flame-out than in hitting the answer. I need an elimination word, and maybe some luck.
Looking at the remaining possibilities, I decide on CHAMP as my guess 4, because that looks as if it will assure me a solution within six guesses. Guessing CHAMP sets up the following scenarios:
- If I hit on C, I will try to solve with LUCKY in guess 5.
- If I hit on H, I will try to solve with HUNKY in guess 5.
- If I hit on M, the possibilities will be JUMPY, LUMPY, and MURKY. With two guesses remaining I can try LUMPY as guess 5. If LUMPY is wrong, but the M is in position 3, I will solve with JUMPY in guess 6. If LUMPY is wrong and the M is not in position 3, I will solve with MURKY in guess 6.
- If I hit on P, the possibilities will be JUMPY, LUMPY and PUNKY. With two guesses remaining I can try LUMPY as guess 5. If LUMPY is wrong, but the P is in position 4, I will solve with JUMPY in guess 6. If LUMPY is wrong and the P is not in position 4, I will solve with PUNKY in guess 6.
- If I don't get a hit on any letter, the remaining possibilities are JUNKY, FUZZY, FUNNY, and FUNKY. In that case, my guess 5 is FUNKY.
- If FUNKY is incorrect, and the word doesn't contain F, I will solve with JUNKY in guess 6.
- If FUNKY is incorrect but confirms F in position 1 and N in position 3, but misses on K in position 4, I will solve with FUNNY in guess 6.
- If FUNKY is incorrect but confirms F in position 1 and shows the word doesn't contain N, I will solve with FUZZY in guess 6.
CHAMP returned an H, leaving HUNKY as the solution.
