It finished in two, you say? Funny, for me, it finished in three (CRANE, PETAL, DELAY). Time to call shenanigans?
That’s odd. When I start from CRANE, it finishes in four (via MALES - DELTA). But I just tried it once again from METER, and it goes right to DELAY again.
Oh, duh. I meant SCOREDLE is looking at me smugly. My bad. The above checks were all Scoredle’s doing. Was kinda tired this morning.
Ah. Thanks for the clarification. 
Wordle 1158 4/6
500
58
5
SLANT
CHORE
DIRGE
DELAY
After 2, I was able to find surprisingly few possible solutions: BAGEL, LABEL, and LAPEL had been taken, leaving ‘good’ possibilities DELAY, GAVEL, IDEAL, LEGAL, and PEDAL, plus more iffy possibilities such as LEMMA and BELAY (familiar if you’re into math or rock-climbing, but maybe less so for others), and some cool but ineligible words like DALEK and LEMBA. I went with DIRGE as a sleuth word to distinguish between the five ‘good’ ones, and it did the job.
I think delay would have worked as a sleuth word while also giving you a chance at a 3:
DELAY = delay
_ela_ = gavel
delA_ = ideal
_ElA_ = legal
dElA_ = pedal
(_ELAY = belay, also)
EDIT: Wait, didn’t Picard use to say “Belay that order” on Star Trek? Not just for rock climbers! heh.
Wednesday, August 21st
Wordle 1,159 4/6
PLANT
ROLES
FULLY
MULCH
I saw bully first, then gully and fully and my old rule kicked in: trust the B, but go G first if they’re both an option, and F before either of them if it could be all three. Then I checked the previous answers list and saw bully and gully have both been answers but fully has not. It felt like serendipity, but alas.
Wordle 1,159 5/6
Wordle 1,159 5/6
RATIO
LUNES
BULKY
GULCH
MULCH
Wordle 1,159 3/6* 8/21/2024
DELAY → Seems odd, but I guess that’s something. I’ve already KOed three vowels, but I’d like to try for two more
SOLID → …but I really didn’t need to retry the D. Ah, well. How do I find a word with only one (or two) Us? UNL?? goes nowhwere. ?ULU? ditto. Look for 3-consonant endings? ?ULTH - nada, ?ULPH - naw, ?ULCH could be
MULCH
GULCH as well, so I was about 50/50. Scoredle also logs a 3, so it’s good to exhaust your vowels as early as possible on this one.
Wordle 1,159 5/6*
\begin{aligned} &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt D} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt Q} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt N} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt C} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt C} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt M} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt C} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \\ \end{aligned}
Wordle 1,159 4/6
ABOUT
LURID
FULLY
MULCH
Wordle 1,159 3/6*
LEAST
BROIL
MULCH
Extremely lucky guess!
Wordle 1,159 5/6
CRANE
SCOUT
JUICY
BUNCH - Stupid
MULCH
Really not having a good week.
Wordle 1,159 4/6
READY (whoops! Time for a vowel hunt!)
BIJOU (plan on only one U, and either an N or a CH. Maybe BOTH!)
MUNCH (Only one possible word left…unless MUTCH is plausible)
MULCH
Wordle 1159 4/6
640
9
1
SLANT
CHORE
FIRMS
MULCH
After 2, I had it down to FILCH, ZILCH, GULCH, MULCH. Going for it means a 1/4 chance of a 3, but a 1/4 chance of a 5 as well. I dislike getting 5s even more than I like getting 3s, so I played it safe with a sleuth word on 3.
Wordle 1,160 5/6
Wordle 1,160 3/6
RATIO
TRUCE
BRUTE
Wordle 1,160 4/6
PLANT
STORE
TRUCE
BRUTE
I’ve been in a bit of a 4 rut lately.
Wordle 1,160 4/6*
\begin{aligned} &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt D} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt N} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt K} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \\ \end{aligned}
Wordle 1160 4/6
524
15
1
SLANT
CHORE
TRIBE
BRUTE
TRITE and WRITE had already been used, so after 2, I had TRIBE, TRIPE*, and BRUTE; figured TRIKE was unlikely.
*This was the first word that I thought of after 2 - another example of why I don’t give any special credence to the first potential answer I think of.