Solid 3 today. My free use of the bot has ended.
View attachment 76699
Bot started with "crane" and got it in three.
Shocker, I know.
I also got a three today, and even though my "hard way" second choice word was the same as yours, "shame," and eliminated all solutions but one, it had the nerve to tell me I should have used "spelt" instead.
NYT is the only news subscription I pay for. I still love reading the physical paper on the weekend, and it actually costs less to subscribe when you include any level of home delivery (they need the subscription numbers to support their print advertising rates, so they essentially pay you to allow them to deliver your paper).
I got hooked on Spelling Bee, which I do before Wordle every day, so I've added on a games subscription over the past year.