UPDATED: What the Best Daily Players Do Differently (July 22, 2026)

We first published this analysis a month ago, before the Insight Bonus launched. The core finding still stands: the daily leaderboard isn't won with speed — it's won with restraint. But the Insight Bonus has changed how the top scorers pull away from the pack, and it's worth an updated look.

Numbers below come from every non-bot, fully-solved daily puzzle since the Insight Bonus went live on July 4, 2026.

1. Hints are still the single biggest score lever

Average score by number of hint rounds used:

  • 1 hint: average 232 points
  • 2 hints: average 207
  • 3 hints: average 188
  • 4 hints: average 170
  • 5 hints: average 132

A ~100-point spread between the most disciplined finishers and players who burn every hint. Each hint round costs 10 points in unused-hint bonus, downgrades every letter it touches from 5 points to 1, and now shrinks the Insight Bonus available on any word it feeds.

2. What's new: the Insight Bonus rewards how you solved each word

The Insight Bonus pays out per word, based on how many letters were visible in that word at the moment you completed it:

  • 3 letters visible → +10 points
  • 4 letters visible → +6
  • 5 letters visible → +3
  • 6 letters visible → +1
  • 7+ letters visible → 0

The maximum haul is 80 points across 8 words. In practice, the average completed daily earns about 36 points of Insight Bonus — meaning most players are already picking up 3–4 well-earned bonus words per game.

3. Top scorers stack Insight Bonus on top of clean solves

For players in the top 10% of daily scores, the average breakdown is:

  • 118 points from letters they solved themselves
  • Just 16 points from hint-revealed letters
  • 46 points of Insight Bonus (about 5 well-earned words)
  • 40 points of unused-hint bonus — they average 1.0 hints used

Total: an average of ~261 points, versus the overall average of ~206.

4. Restraint separates the quartiles — insight amplifies the gap

  • Top quartile average: 249 pts · 1.0 hints · 46 Insight Bonus
  • Bottom quartile average: 146 pts · 4.1 hints · 26 Insight Bonus

The ~100-point gap comes from three compounding things: three fewer hints (worth 30 in bonus alone), more letters solved for 5 points instead of 1, and roughly 20 extra points of Insight Bonus from committing to words earlier.

5. Speed is still the smallest lever

Top-quartile finishers solve in around 4 minutes on average, but the daily speed bonus caps at 50 points. That's less than what you'd give up by burning two extra hint rounds. Speed sorts ties; it doesn't create the gap.

The updated data-driven play

  1. Stare at the grid before you tap "Hint." Every minute of thinking can be worth 10 unused-hint points plus another 10 in Insight Bonus.
  2. Commit to words early. If you can see a word with only 3 letters visible, lock it in — that's the peak +10 Insight Bonus tier.
  3. Treat each hint as a triple cost: 10 in unused-hint bonus, a downgrade on every letter it reveals, and a smaller Insight Bonus on any word it feeds.
  4. Let speed be a side effect. Solve cleanly and insightfully first; the seconds take care of themselves.

Want to test it? Today's puzzle is waiting. Try finishing with one fewer hint than usual and commit to at least one word from just three letters. Watch where you land.