Hard mode makes you reuse every green and yellow you find. That sounds minor, but it strips away your freedom to go fishing for information later in the game. The answer is to front-load: learn as much as you can on the first two guesses, before the constraints stack up.

The trap that ends hard-mode games is the word family. Once you know the answer ends in -IGHT, the rules happily let you spend four guesses on LIGHT, FIGHT, MIGHT, and NIGHT in a row. Settle the leading consonant while you still can, with a word that tests several of them at once.

Keep the second guess wide

Guess two has to respect what you've confirmed, but among the legal words you can still pick the one that tests the most new high-value letters. A wide legal guess beats a narrow one even when both obey the rules.

Count before you commit

When several legal words fit, don't grab the first that looks right. Choose the one that splits the field most evenly: the guess most likely to turn yellows into greens whichever word is hiding.