Opener Lab

CLIME vs CRANE

See which word leaves you with the easier game.

CRANE leads in the previous complete six-turn benchmark

These game-length figures come from the previous complete opener benchmark against its 2,354-answer snapshot, ranked by average guesses among games solved within six. Its answer snapshot and continuation policy are separate from today's solver recommendations.

The same solver played from both openers. CRANE has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.55 guesses to 3.59 for CLIME.

Looking only at the opening row, CRANE has higher entropy (5.73 bits versus 5.10). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.

MetricCLIMECRANE
Elimination94.3%96.6%
Information5.10 bits5.73 bits
Avg remaining135 words81 words
Avg turns3.593.55
Win rate99.9%99.9%
TierBA

What to expect from the first guess

OutcomeCLIMECRANE
First-turn solve* 0% 0.04%
At least one green 39.0% 43.5%
Any green or yellow 84.0% 88.5%
Whole row gray 16.0% 11.5%
Worst case answers left 378 272

*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.

A fully gray row is rarer with CRANE: it happens 11.5% of the time, against 16.0% for CLIME.

CLIME is not on the possible-answer list, so it cannot solve the game on turn one here. It can still be a useful guess.

How these two openers fit together

CLIME and CRANE share 2 letters (C, E). Played as a pair they cover 8 distinct letters, which still gives the second word room to do useful work.

Played back to back, CLIME then CRANE earns 8.02 bits of information in total, 2.29 bits more than the better word manages alone.

Past Wordle answers

  • CLIME: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.
  • CRANE: Answer to the puzzle on June 21, 2023.