4 here
A modest 4 but I enjoyed the slightly weird eliminatory challenge:
2y
2y
2y
5g
4 here
To explain how. I opened with UNITE and so knew it was a word that started with U and didn't have N,I,T or E. That ruled out all 5 letter words beginning with UN and couldn't be UPSET or UDDER (no E) and after a short contemplation the only other word I could think of was USURP. I'm sure there were other possibilities but none jumped out of the CA memory bank
4 today and a nice pattern
2y
2g
2y+2g
5g
Interesting. I thought you must have had the first letter with your 1g. Otherwise your next go would have been a complete shot in the dark. Eliminating the N and the E were also very helpful.
Very good, though, to work it through like that. There were only one or two other words that could have fitted, the most obvious being USUAL but also UMBRA, UVULA and even USURY which is very close to the correct word.
4 for me today
0
3g
3g+2y
5g
UTM
Similar 4
1y
3y
2g, 1y
5g
4 also
2g
2g 1y
at this point I burnt a word as could see it could be multiple combinations
2g 2y
5g