I always start with a different word, just something that feels funny to me at the time and I like the challenge of wasting the first guess on something like "DRUNK" and getting 0 hints. By the end there are so few letters left that the answer should be obvious. Worst cases are when you have something like _OUND and have S, B, M, F all still unused, then it's just luck.
I don’t know how to do that square thing you guys post, but I got it in three today with SLAPs best mate as the answer “Brink”.
Gotta love symmetry in life
By tapping that big green Share button. And best to try to avoid any spoilers.