Weekly Recap

During the week of May 11 – May 17, 2026, players logged 705 game sessions across the daily Hot & Cold challenges, and 584 of those runs ended with the secret word found — an average daily solve rate of 82%. Successful solvers needed about 19.8 guesses on average, while 121 sessions ended with the answer revealed instead.

The toughest puzzle landed on Fri, May 15, where only 59% of players tracked down the secret word after roughly 23.1 guesses on average. At the other end of the spectrum, Thu, May 14 was the friendliest day of the week: 96% of players got there in about 18.2 guesses.

Popular opening guesses this week included animal, banana, food and emotion — broad category words remain the community's favorite way to scan for the right semantic neighborhood before narrowing in.

Missed a day? Every challenge from this week can still be replayed from the archive. And if your solve rate dipped, the starting-words guide covers how to open more efficiently.