[wizofaus]

FWIW, I just had a game where these were my guesses:

IRATE SOUND PLUMB FOUND (the answer)

In fact I nearly always play "SOUND" after "IRATE", even if I know it can't be correct, and in this case I knew PLUMB couldn't be correct - after the 2nd word I knew it was -OUND, but there are a lot of words ending in -OUND, so I wanted to eliminate as many as possible in the next move. PLUMB would either eliminate or indicate POUND MOUND or BOUND as the solution, and once it did the former, it was either FOUND HOUND WOUND, and I got lucky. In fact I should have played WHOMP which would have given me a better chance (given LOUND is not a word). In this sense the game is somewhat different to the coloured peg game "Mastermind", where there's no benefit in making a guess that can't possibly be correct.