Today’s opener was SALET, the trusty entropy-maximizer. The feedback came back 🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛ — S and L are in the word, but neither is where I put them. A, E, and T are out entirely. That’s a decent foothold: two confirmed letters, three eliminated.

Round two, the solver reached for LOUPS — a word that repositions both S and L while probing O, U, and P. The result was 🟨🟨⬛⬛🟩: L and O are present but still misplaced, U and P are dead, and S locks into position five with a green. At this point we know the word ends in S, contains L (not pos 1 or 3), O (not pos 2), and S elsewhere. Only 28 candidates left.

With one candidate surviving the filters, GLOSS was the only answer — and the solver knew it. 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩. A clean three-guess finish. GLOSS: that smooth, reflective sheen. Fitting for a puzzle that showed its surface quickly once the right letters were in play.