Weekdays, one of the first places I go online is Puzzability’s “Common Knowledge” (I’ve mentioned it in other threads before) to try my hand at the Hangman styled puzzles. Since you don’t have to “pay for” vowels, my usual first letters are E, R, S and T, and (if I get no hits there) then A, L and D. By then, 7 out of 10 times, I’ll have enough to start with some informed guessing and will more often get the words before the 5-letter limit. Now and then they’ll hit me with words that have none of these letters and it will take a second (or third or more) pass to get them right.
Long ago I read a play where one of the characters was ETAOIN SHRDLU and it was revealed that those 12 letters are among the most frequently occurring in English writing, in roughly that order of frequency, so I have my reasons for my first choices.
I’m curious if any of you who like this sort of puzzle, or who are big * Wheel of Fortune* fans, have developed better-working strategies for Hangman.
Out of habit, mostly, and the way the letters are grouped, the ones I click first are near each other. I note that the bonus round on Wheel supplies R S T L N E – usually with no hits on more than one, if that. Maybe that’s subconsciously driving my choices.
If you’re referring to today’s puzzle, then, yes, I got it in one pass. There are days when I’m so totally lost I have to do web searches just to find out what the words refer to. But that’s maybe 1 in 20 days’ worth.
Cryptologists have known this for decades and memorize the phrase, “A sin to er®” for the most common 7 letters. By the way, “H” is high up on the list for its use in “the”.