Nitpick:
3G+Y is slightly better than 4G ! Compare getting yGG-G on Reads with -GGGG on Dears.
These have the same solutions sets except that Rears is ruled out in the former case.
Wordle 1,665 X/6*
\begin{aligned} &\bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt F} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt M} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ \end{aligned}
Bastard.
Wordle 1,665 3/6
SLATE
GRIND
EIGHT
I’ve conceded that Slant might be the 2nd-best start. But be aware
that E in 5th position is the most common letter-position pair in
the Wardle word list:
https://real-statistics.com/wordle-strategy/wordle-letter-frequency-and-patterns/
[ It looks like your link to real-statistics.com was already posted in the topic by @gordon_g in a reply on Dec 7, 2025 – are you sure you want to post it again?
– Sorry. I’m afraid fans might have forgotten the month-ago link and
accused me of pulling numbers our of my ear]
S/1st and Y/5th are in a virtual tie for 2nd/3rd place. 4th place is … E/4th !
Wordle 1,665 4/6
RADIO
SUITE
CIVET
EIGHT
Wordle 1665 3/6
SLANT
CHORE
EIGHT
Yeah, I’m aware. 
I’ve been using my used-words spreadsheet for years now to keep statistics on which letters have been used how often, and in which positions.
Concerning the choice of starting word, I don’t think of SLANT just in isolation, but as part of a package deal with my default followup word, CHORE. The two of them together give me the seven most frequent consonants and the three most frequent vowels, and with the exception of R, they’re either in their most frequent position or close enough to make no never mind, which means more greens.
There’s no real need to get more vowels sooner, first of all there’s 20 consonants and only 6 vowels, counting Y as one of the latter. And it’s not that hard to infer what the vowels are once you have the consonants in place. (If you ever see a Hebrew-language newspaper, all those letter on the page are consonants. One mentally fills in the vowels.) Also, every trap you see is a trap because too many consonants fit.
I’ll go with a different second word if my starting word gives me enough info (G+Y or better is always good enough, and some situations with one green or two yellows), but absent that, I play my default second word, so it works well to treat them as a package deal. It may be that your starting word, which is a very popular one, gives a slightly better chance of a 2, but I think my combo is about as good as it gets for getting 3s and avoiding 5s or worse.
Great minds think alike! 
I get almost exactly the same benefit from my default Slate/Crony but can often find a better #2 sleuth. And I also usually ask just 3 early vowels – consonants need to be eliminated ASAP in case you’re in a trap like Bound/Found/Hound/Mound/Pound/Round/Sound/Wound. But I often deviate on #2. If E hits, I think I is more likely than O or Y. (Today I asked Grind which worked very well.)
I might prefer Slote over Slate if it were a word. - - A - - is very convenient for forming “sleuth” words.
Wordle 1,665 4/6*
STEAL
TEMPO
ERECT
EIGHT
I prefer short and alien as my first two
Wordle 1666 4/6
no Ai 
Devilish good fun 
Wordle 1,665 4/6
BUYER
GEOID
EKING
EIGHT
I still contend that the ONLY way a word can be characterized as the “best” starting word is if it is possible for it to be the solution. STEAL (for the nonce) qualifies. SLATE does not.
Wordle 1,665 3/6
HEART
SHEET
(six seven) EIGHT
Wordle 1,665 4/6
SPEAK
LINER
TITHE
EIGHT
I get that some people truly enjoy all the number-crunching and statistics-analyzing. I do not. I’m playing a game, not doing homework. 
Same for my usual CRANE and HOIST, except I also get ‘i’.
Wordle 1,665 4/6
SLATE
TEMPO
ETHER
EIGHT
You could call it the ALF opening!
Wordle 1,665 3/6* 1/9/2026
BLAST → I looked for a word with both O & E here and couldn’t find one. Then I thought about I & E, but wanted to finish up my WoFcons, so I went with
FRONT → Which was no help. But, it gave me the freedom to try the word I had been thinking of with I & E which was
EIGHT
Yep, could woulda shoulda had a two. Although one of the features of the second guess was that it functioned as a sleuth word if I dropped into the trap with that third guess - in fact, every consonant I guessed with the first two guesses (including that first guess carryover) could have been solutions to the trap as it turned out. And I was blissfully unawares. Scoredle actually shows five more possibles for that trap, but they’re all bogus IMHO. And hey, it’s an example of a trap that includes vowels (you could also have a bogus - really, archaic - A in there). Scoredle from my start finishes with a par, better than it does from its own start where it bogeys.
Wordle 1,665 3/6*
Dried
Fiest
Eight
Lucky slinging on guess 2. What’s it mean, I dunno!
Wordle 1,665 3/6
CRANE
SHOUT
EIGHT
I’ve been going back and forth between shout and hoist as my second word. There are an awful lot of words that begin with “s”, and “h” is pretty common as a second letter. Shout worked well today.
Wordle 1,666 4/6 — 2026-01-10 Sat
{Day 27 of 30 from the Philippines}
Wordle 1,666 3/6 SATURDAY
AUDIO
TAPIR
MANIC