Opener Lab
ROUGE vs SLANT
See which word leaves you with the easier game.
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. SLANT has the lower average in games solved within six: 3.51 guesses to 3.66 for ROUGE.
Looking only at the opening row, SLANT has higher entropy (5.49 bits versus 5.09). That describes first-guess separation, not the full solve on its own.
ROUGE does keep one card: in full solver playouts it finishes inside six guesses 100.0% of the time, a shade ahead of SLANT at 99.9%.
| Metric | ROUGE | SLANT |
|---|---|---|
| Elimination | 94.7% | 95.7% |
| Information | 5.09 bits | 5.49 bits |
| Avg remaining | 126 words | 101 words |
| Avg turns | 3.66 | 3.51 |
| Win rate | 100.0% | 99.9% |
| Tier | B | A |
What to expect from the first guess
| Outcome | ROUGE | SLANT |
|---|---|---|
| First-turn solve* | 0.04% | 0.04% |
| At least one green | 37.4% | 41.5% |
| Any green or yellow | 85.8% | 86.2% |
| Whole row gray | 14.2% | 13.8% |
| Worst case answers left | 334 | 326 |
*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.
Both openers come back completely gray at almost the same rate, so the difference between them lies in how much their hits actually tell you.
How these two openers fit together
ROUGE and SLANT have no letters in common. Played back to back they test 10 different letters, the most any two openers can manage.
Played back to back, ROUGE then SLANT earns 9.29 bits of information in total, 3.80 bits more than the better word manages alone.
Past Wordle answers
- ROUGE: Answer to the puzzle on November 22, 2021.
- SLANT: Has not been a past Wordle answer in this site's history.