Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #567) - today's words
(Image credit: New York Times)
Today's NYT Connections words are…
BEACH
DATE
LOCK
CHERRY
FUR
MAROON
TIME
PAIR
STRAND
HEAD
LOCATION
BRICK
DURATION
YOU
RUBY
WISP
NYT Connections today (game #567) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: Roses are?
GREEN: Meeting detail
BLUE: Mane attraction
PURPLE: Sounds leafy
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #567) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: SHADES OF RED
GREEN: APPOINTMENT SPECIFICATIONS
BLUE: DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF HAIR
PURPLE: TREE HOMOPHONES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #567) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Connections, game #567, are…
YELLOW: SHADES OF RED BRICK, CHERRY, MAROON, RUBY
GREEN: APPOINTMENT SPECIFICATIONS DATE, DURATION, LOCATION, TIME
BLUE: DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF HAIR HEAD, LOCK, STRAND, WISP
PURPLE: TREE HOMOPHONES BEACH, FUR, PAIR, YOU
My rating: Hard
My score: 2 mistakes
I struggled today and really should have employed a bit more lateral thinking to make it a bit less time-consuming.
I spent far too long thinking BEACH, STRAND, and MAROON were linked to dumping someone and PAIR and LOCK had something to do with charging a phone before finally seeing the much more obvious SHADES OF RED and DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF HEAD.
Our old friend the homophone also made an appearance with TREE HOMOPHONES. I think I’m going to have to have a permanent Post-it note reminding me to speak out words.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 28 December, game #566)
YELLOW: "NOTHING TO IT!" EASY, NO SWEAT, PIECE OF CAKE, SURE THING
GREEN: OBJECTS FROM GREEK MYTH AEGIS, APPLE OF DISCORD, GOLDEN FLEECE, PANDORA'S BOX
BLUE: PROVERBIAL THINGS TO KICK CAN, HABIT, HORNETS' NEST, TIRES
PURPLE: STARTING WITH POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS HERSHEY, HISTAMINE, ITSY, MINEFIELD
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
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Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Festival of Lights delights
NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
STOKE
DIAL
BROKEN
SLAG
CALL
LADS
NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Jewish feast
NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: left, 4th row
Last side: bottom, 2nd column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #301) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Strands, game #301, are…
KUGEL
LATKES
BRISKET
CHALLAH
APPLE SAUCE
SPANGRAM: HANNUKAH FOODS
My rating: Moderate
My score: 1 hint
Sufganiyot is the biggest item left off this list of HANUKKAH FOODS – or rather, HANNUKAH FOODS, because the NYT spelled the holiday name in a different way from how it's general listed elsewhere. That said, it is one of those words with multiple spellings in general use, so maybe this is just another one I've not seen before.
Anyway, back to Sufganiyot. For me, doughnuts are a year-round indulgence. I’ve even got a loyalty card for a bakery chain that rewards me with a free weekly doughnut – such is my, a-hem, loyalty that I’ve not missed my freebie yet.
We will have to wait until 2027 for Christmas and the eight-day Jewish festival to closely coincide again, when it starts on Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, Festivus – the festival for the rest of us – continues to be celebrated on December 23, with the annual “airing of grievances”. I’m unsure if Festivus celebrants eat doughnuts, but they really should.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, 28 December, game #300)
LAVENDER
PATCHOULI
CEDARWOOD
EUCALYPTUS
SPANGRAM: AROMATHERAPY
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #566) - today's words
(Image credit: New York Times)
Today's NYT Connections words are…
MINEFIELD
HABIT
ITSY
HORNETS' NEST
PANDORA'S BOX
HERSHEY
PIECE OF CAKE
AEGIS
HISTAMINE
SURE THING
APPLE OF DISCORD
TIRES
EASY
GOLDEN FLEECE
CAN
NO SWEAT
NYT Connections today (game #566) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: Trouble-free
GREEN: Mythological items
BLUE: Boot these things
PURPLE: Who it belongs to
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #566) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: "NOTHING TO IT!"
GREEN: OBJECTS FROM GREEK MYTH
BLUE: PROVERBIAL THINGS TO KICK
PURPLE: STARTING WITH POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #566) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Connections, game #566, are…
YELLOW: "NOTHING TO IT!" EASY, NO SWEAT, PIECE OF CAKE, SURE THING
GREEN: OBJECTS FROM GREEK MYTH AEGIS, APPLE OF DISCORD, GOLDEN FLEECE, PANDORA'S BOX
BLUE: PROVERBIAL THINGS TO KICK CAN, HABIT, HORNETS' NEST, TIRES
PURPLE: STARTING WITH POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS HERSHEY, HISTAMINE, ITSY, MINEFIELD
My rating: Moderate
My score: 1 mistake
As someone who is known to kick the CAN down the road when it comes to doing odd jobs around the house I really should have gotten PROVERBIAL THINGS TO KICK first.
Instead, I wasted a guess thinking that HORNET’S NEST and PANDORA’S BOX belonged in the same group of four, and wrongly thinking that GOLDEN FLEECE was a famous ship (that’ll be the Golden Hinde). I’d never heard of APPLE OF DISCORD before, although it does sum up many of my MacBook issues over the years, but it was AEGIS that helped me pull everything together today.
Not seeing any link with the final groups, I stared at the words for a few minutes before the brain clicked in and I noticed hers, his, its, and mine at the start of the words for the Purple group.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 27 December, game #565)
YELLOW: BREAKFAST SIDES BACON, GRITS, HASH, TOAST
GREEN: PUSHES, AS A BUTTON CLICKS, HITS, PRESSES, TAPS
BLUE: THEY HAVE A HORN AFRICA, BUGLER, CAR, UNICORN
PURPLE: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS BRIDGES, IRONS, PHOENIX, WASHINGTON
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
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Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #1069) - hint #1 - Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #1069) - hint #2 - repeated letters
Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #1069) - hint #3 - uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.
What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?
• B
• L
• T
• B
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #1069) - the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today's Quordle, game #1069, are…
BUNCH
LABOR
TRIPE
BUNNY
This was close to being my best ever Quordle round, getting three correct in six goes. The final word TRIPE was the result of guesswork, but it was still nicely satisfying to complete the quartet with one line to spare.
The practice set me up nicely for the Daily Sequence, which I blitzed through in seven lines.
The holidays are a magical time, but let’s face it: keeping a young child and a few energetic nieces and nephews entertained during those long winter breaks can be challenging. Enter ChatGPT.
While mainly used for adults, the AI-powered chatbot has more than a little Mary Poppins in its features. You might be amazed to find how good ChatGPT is at helping keep kids creatively engaged, and not just for the holidays.
I’ve put together some of my favorite methods of using ChatGPT to enhance playtime with my very young child and his slightly older cousins and how I plan to keep it up in the year ahead.
Tales from AI
(Image credit: Pixabay)
Kids love stories, and with ChatGPT, I can create characters who keep them entertained with endless tales and role-playing games. We started by designing a virtual magical snowman who told stories of adventures but have since made time-traveling princesses visiting dinosaurs and superhero astronauts going to other planets. I just have to ask ChatGPT to “pretend you’re a time-traveling princess. Tell us about your latest trip to the Jurassic period and the dinosaurs you met,” and I’ve got a great tale to tell, especially with the silly voices I add. And if there are questions I don’t know how to answer, the AI princess is there for backup. For next year, I’m thinking of setting up an interactive long-term story with a new chapter that brings back favorite characters every so often.
Art projects
ChatGPT’s AI image maker, DALL-E, brings some visual flair to this winter, too. Sometimes, it’s related to the stories I tell, but sometimes, it’s just random fun that I show off or they suggest. We’ve looked at images made from prompts like “A friendly dragon playing in a magical forest” and “A futuristic city on Mars with flying cars,” among many others. One fun thing to do is make them purely outlines of drawings and then print them out for the kids to color in. For the coming year, I’m picturing a full family “art gallery” where the kids can display their AI-assisted creations. We’ll create themes for each season, and I’ll encourage them to elaborate on what they’ve seen the AI do.
Storybooks
When a kid can't see their favorite character, sometimes they want to be the hero. ChatGPT makes it easy to create personalized tales that feature my little one and my nieces and nephews as the main characters. This is good for quieter times when I don’t want them to be so involved, like with the interactive characters and art. Instead it’s a good way to quickly make a story they’ll pay attention to when it’s naptime or bedtime. As the kids get older, I might even put together whole chapter books combining all of their favorite things and make them the stars of the story.
Edu-tainment AI
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Prostock-studio)
Kids like to learn if you can make it fun. Even a one-year-old who is learning to talk gets excited when they figure out two shapes are the same, and you praise them for doing so. You can ask ChatGPT to generate trivia games and quizzes at every level, with help from DALL-E for visual questions. You can even attach mini-lessons to help them learn. For example, I asked ChatGPT, “Create a trivia quiz for little kids about dinosaurs, including asking them to draw some or identify pictures. That was a hit. I even made one specifically about the area of New York where we live, so they felt like it was a test based on their own lives. A little prize at the end for everyone was my own idea, but ChatGPT really livened up the afternoon. I’d love to make it a full family activity in the coming year, maybe even make a family trivia night tailored to the kids or let them help come up with topics so they can be the quizmasters.
AI Maestro
(Image credit: Pixabay)
Music is another way to keep kids entertained, and ChatGPT’s creative writing skills can help you compose custom songs for any occasion. Using prompts like, “Write a fun, rhyming song about cleaning your room, with a catchy chorus,” we’ve created silly jingles that make mundane tasks more fun. With a little finesse, I can even get ChatGPT to come up with lyrics that match the tune of some of their favorite songs. For instance, I asked the AI what key and time signature Yankee Doodle is in, then had it come up with lyrics to match the style, except the words were about everything they need to do before bed. They’re all a little young for anything more complicated musically, but someday, I would love to make a whole album of songs we collaborate on boosted with AI help on rhyme schemes and musical aspects.
What sort of 2024 did AMD experience? This year was quiet in some respects for Team Red – with not much activity in the GPU space, save for one notable exception – but there was more happening on the CPU front, although the introduction of new Zen 5 processors proved controversial.
New laptop chips for Copilot+ PCs and a fresh X3D offering were definite highlights, so without any further preamble, let’s dig into what was good, bad, or indifferent for AMD in 2024.
(Image credit: AMD)
Vanilla Ryzen 9000 CPUs fizzled upon launch
This year we received new Ryzen processors, although the launch of these Zen 5 chips was pushed back a month from July to August – a delay which some regarded as ominous at the time. Those more pessimistic mutterings turned into something of an online outcry when the Ryzen 9000 range did eventually arrive, with the PC community seemingly quick to label the new processors a flop.
That’s a harsh conclusion to jump to, perhaps, although it’s undeniable that Ryzen 9000 did not meet the expectations of would-be CPU buyers, particularly for gaming performance, where uplifts were widely reported to be closer to 5% than the 10% AMD was touting prerelease (which is where the ‘Zen 5%’ joke comes from). The better news is that Ryzen 9000 swiftly received better performance thanks to fine-tuning work in Windows 11 24H2 – though crucially, Ryzen 7000 chips got close to the same (major) uplift.
So, the flak AMD caught from a gaming angle wasn’t good at all here, but Team Red did have a couple of things in its favor. Its desktop CPU rival, Intel, spent the whole of 2024 dealing with way worse issues than a lukewarm reception around gaming prowess – with Team Blue’s 13th and 14th-gen processors being plagued by nasty instability issues (that were eventually fixed). On top of that, Intel’s new Core Ultra 200S (Arrow Lake) desktop CPUs fared just as badly as Ryzen 9000 – actually, worse – out of the gate in terms of gaming performance.
That gave AMD some breathing room, and then Team Red shot back with a powerful volley to entice PC gamers in terms of a swift launch of its new 3D V-Cache processors.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Ryzen 9800X3D to the rescue
Last year, we saw the introduction of 3D V-Cache for Zen 4 CPUs, and the Ryzen 7800X3D caught fire as the most popular gaming CPU out there. While normally AMD takes some time to push out X3D chips for any given generation, with Zen 5, these gaming-focused processors arrived very swiftly. Indeed, the Ryzen 9800X3D debuted in the first week of November, only a few months after Ryzen 9000 chips.
You could argue that this hasty appearance was pushed through to take away the bad taste from Ryzen 9000, and indeed the Ryzen 9800X3D did exactly that for PC gamers. As we found in our review, this CPU is seriously pepped up (with the ability to be overclocked for the first time, too), and an excellent gaming chip – we called it the best processor release of 2024, in fact.
The sticking point for the 9800X3D was the slightly hiked MSRP, along with the initial stock selling out very quickly, a situation compounded by scalping woes. Still, this clearly was the piece of silicon AMD needed to get out of the door to recover its CPU reputation, and really take the fight to Intel.
Also, i's worth noting that we were treated to a welcome wallet-friendly last-gen offering from AMD, the Ryzen 7600X3D, as a budget gaming CPU (and a great fit for small form-factor builds) – but as a Micro Center exclusive in the US (again).
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
GPU disappointment – with a big saving grace
AMD was a hive of activity with graphics cards last year, filling out the RDNA 3 series with various models of GPU, from the lower-end RX 7600, through the mid-range territory with the RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT. Before that in 2022, we only had high-end models with the RDNA 3 family.
To say this year was a bit of a contrast is an understatement. At the very start of 2024, we did get a new RX 7600 XT, the pepped-up take on the most wallet-friendly RDNA 3 GPU, but it was a modest upgrade, not all that compelling in the value stakes, and overall it didn’t stand up well compared to its Nvidia rival (the RTX 4060).
We were also hoping for RDNA 4 with even more eagerness, of course, but that didn’t happen either. Despite the rumor mill firmly believing these next-gen graphics cards could debut later in 2024, they didn’t – and the grapevine now has a Q1 2025 launch predicted. Overall, the no-show from RDNA 4 – which is rumored to top out at the mid-range, with an RX 8700 XT flagship in theory – was one of the biggest disappointments in the PC sphere for us in 2024.
What we did get, though, was a rocket-powered rabbit – a Golden Rabbit Edition, or GRE, version of the RX 7900, to be precise. Now, this was a GPU that was launched in China in the middle of 2023, but it was only released globally in February 2024. At that point, the RX 7900 GRE stormed our list of the best GPUs and stole the top position, arguably being the best entry-level option for 4K gaming.
So, it wasn’t a complete washout for Team Red after all, particularly when you consider that the RX 7800 XT also topped our best GPU list when it emerged last year. The GRE was the only thing that was GRE-at (sorry) about 2024 for AMD’s GPUs, though.
(Image credit: AMD)
Ryzen AI 300 bursts onto the scene to take on Qualcomm Snapdragon X
As you doubtless noticed, 2024 was the year that Copilot+ PCs launched, and the only chips powering these AI laptops were Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X SoCs to begin with.
AMD and Intel weren’t that far behind with CPUs that had a beefy enough NPU to qualify as the engine of a Copilot+ PC, though, and Team Red’s Ryzen AI 300 (x86) processors (also known as Strix Point) arrived in laptops starting from July 2024. However, the available models were very thin on the ground to begin with, and indeed the amount of choice with Strix Point notebooks remains limited even as this year draws to a close.
Ryzen AI 300 proved to be strong for AI, and also general performance and mobile gaming, too, easily matching Qualcomm’s effort – with the advantage of having none of the compatibility issues that the Arm-based Snapdragon X CPUs have as baggage.
That said, Intel also debuted Lunar Lake mobile (x86) processors for Copilot+ PCs in 2024, and these also proved to be very strong CPUs – and a match for Ryzen AI 300 in many respects. In short, two great x86 alternatives to Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs emerged in 2024, albeit we need more laptops packing this silicon.
While the launch of Ryzen 9000 CPUs caused some wobbles, we have to remember that these aren’t bad chips by any means – they just didn’t meet (gaming) expectations, and didn’t seem all that great value compared to previous-gen processors (at heavily cut prices) which are still very much on shelves (for the time being).
Ryzen 9000’s time will doubtless come, and at any rate, AMD recovered suitably with the Ryzen 9800X3D – and wasn’t exactly under pressure from Intel, either, as Team Blue had bigger worries than the criticisms Team Red faced.
GPU launches were thin on the ground from AMD, and rather disappointing – save for that RX 7900 GRE – and RDNA 4 failing to appear this year was a further source of some dismay.
Unfortunately, 2024 also saw AMD implement major layoffs, with the company making no bones about an increasing focus on the world of AI, where plentiful profits are to be made.
Is that increased leaning into AI anything to do with pushing back RDNA 4 graphics cards, perhaps? We don’t know that, and wouldn’t get carried away with any paranoia around AMD deprioritizing consumer GPUs yet – it’s probably more to do with market conditions and selling through current-gen RDNA 3 stock. Furthermore, you could apply that line of worried thinking to Nvidia equally, with next-gen Blackwell gaming GPUs also failing to turn up this year, and perhaps set to launch in the shadow of much bigger potential AI profits.
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #299) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Back in style
NYT Strands today (game #299) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
SIXES
TIRE
MILLET
NONE
RIGS
KEEP
NYT Strands today (game #299) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• The synth pop decade
NYT Strands today (game #299) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: top, 3rd column
Last side: bottom, 4th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #299) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Strands, game #299, are…
NEON
PERM
MULLET
SPANDEX
JUMPSUIT
WINDBREAKER
SPANGRAM: EIGHTIES
My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect
Maybe it says something about me but I spotted the words Break and Wind before I saw WINDBREAKER – although this is possibly because it’s not the most obvious of EIGHTIES fashions.
SPANDEX – which is an anagram of Expands – seems very particular to the 1980s, but there is probably more of it around today than then, it’s just that we call it Lycra now.
In the UK two very particular sub sections of the male amateur cycling community have emerged in recent years: Lycra Lads – road racers so obsessed with speed and time that they don’t care who gets in their way as they go “aero”, and MAMILs which stands for Middle Aged Men in Lycra. I can’t help thinking both would be less keen on cladding themselves in clingy fabric if we still still called it Spandex.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, 26 December, game #298)
AUNT
INLAW
GRANDCHILD
NIECE
COUSIN
UNCLE
NEPHEW
SPANGRAM: REUNION
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #565) - today's words
(Image credit: New York Times)
Today's NYT Connections words are…
TAPS
UNICORN
IRONS
BACON
PRESSES
PHOENIX
CAR
BUGLER
BRIDGES
AFRICA
TOAST
WASHINGTON
GRITS
HITS
HASH
CLICKS
NYT Connections today (game #565) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: Morning meal staples
GREEN: On/Off
BLUE: Beep beep
PURPLE: And the award goes to…
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #565) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: BREAKFAST SIDES
GREEN: PUSHES, AS A BUTTON
BLUE: THEY HAVE A HORN
PURPLE: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #565) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Connections, game #565, are…
YELLOW: BREAKFAST SIDES BACON, GRITS, HASH, TOAST
GREEN: PUSHES, AS A BUTTON CLICKS, HITS, PRESSES, TAPS
BLUE: THEY HAVE A HORN AFRICA, BUGLER, CAR, UNICORN
PURPLE: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS BRIDGES, IRONS, PHOENIX, WASHINGTON
My rating: Moderate
My score: 1 mistake
My first thought when I saw PHOENIX and IRONS in the grid was the actors River and Jeremy. I spent ages trying to think of any films they were in together (I later discovered there are none, but they were both in the Shakespearean TV drama The Hollow Crown). I then convinced myself that they must be connected to Denzil WASHINGTON and Kevin BACON and got the dreaded “one away”.
After connecting the breakfast items I found the correct group for BACON and the rest clicked into place.
The blue group completely threw me. Although it's true that THEY HAVE A HORN, the type that AFRICA has is very different to the one you’d find in a CAR. Such is the random beauty of Connections.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 26 December, game #564)
YELLOW: APPROXIMATELY ABOUT, AROUND, LIKE, ROUGHLY
GREEN: TREES ELDER, PALM, PINE, SPRUCE
BLUE: SIZABLE, AS AN AMOUNT HANDSOME, HEALTHY, RESPECTABLE, TIDY
PURPLE: U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS, PER AP STYLE GUIDE ALA, ARK, MISS, ORE
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
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Nvidia experienced a memorable 2024 in some ways, and certainly CEO Jensen Huang won’t forget the year in which his company finally outdid Apple as the most valuable firm in the world.
We also received a clutch of powerful new GeForce GPUs from Team Green, along with a huge move on the software front too, and, inevitably, AI continued to be a massive driving force for Nvidia.
Nvidia’s value exceeded $1 trillion in 2023, but it blew through the roof this year, with its stock heading steeply upwards throughout 2024 – driven, of course, in large part by its AI GPUs.
Throughout the year, Jensen was gleefully stoking the AI hype furnace, unsurprisingly. A lot of leather jackets can be bought for the kind of cash Nvidia is now worth, and the swiftness with which this financial rise has occurred has been nothing less than breathtaking.
Is Nvidia going to be the first company to hit the $4 trillion mark? It’s a fair bet if the momentum behind AI keeps on chugging the way it has been – and maybe Nvidia is even set to become a household name eventually (something it most definitely isn’t yet, despite all this success).
Helping to maintain its momentum here was a trio of new graphics cards for the Lovelace range which Nvidia revealed as the year kicked off. These fresh additions to the best Nvidia GPUs out there were the GeForce RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4080 Super.(And yes, we still can’t get over the fact that Nvidia made a ‘Ti Super’ as a way to jam an extra model into a cluttered mid-to-upper-range space).
These Super GPUs replaced the existing models in all but the case of the RTX 4070, which was kept in production to run alongside the RTX 4070 Super, but at a cheaper price point (obviously).
Overall, the new graphics cards were welcome introductions and powerhouse offerings, but what wasn’t so welcome were the price tags attached to them. In true Nvidia style, these mid-to-higher leaning GPUs were all expensive. Notably, the RTX 4070 Ti Super fell a little short in our review, being rather overshadowed by the RTX 4080 Super, which we declared was the enthusiast GPU we’ve all been waiting for.
On the issue of priciness, it’s true that some of these new Super variants got price cuts to a limited extent as the year rolled on, but overall, AMD’s mid-range remained the much better value picks compared to Team Green.
Otherwise, we didn’t see much else from Nvidia in the way of GPU releases, save for a fresh spin on the RTX 4070 with slightly slower video RAM. It was effectively the same as the original RTX 4070, though, and a move made by Team Green to ensure supply remained strong, we were told.
(Image credit: Future/Jackie Thomas)
There was nothing to be seen elsewhere, and once again, tumbleweeds at the lower-end of the market. The old RTX 3060 remained a strong seller as a result – the 12GB flavor, with that VRAM loadout proving a definite carrot for some gamers – despite chatter from the grapevine around the middle of the year that Nvidia might be discontinuing this model.
Despite plenty of rumors suggesting a 2024 launch earlier in the year, we didn’t see the RTX 5000 series turn up this year, with the expectation now being that Nvidia will launch new RTX 5090 and 5080 (and possibly RTX 5070) GPUs at the very start of 2025 at CES.
There was some super new software, too
Broadly speaking, Nvidia GPU owners have had a somewhat rocky relationship with GeForce Experience. A good chunk of gamers with an Nvidia graphics card preferred to just install the graphics driver, and not bother with the companion software, GeForce Experience, at all – and Team Green took the hint. In 2024, Nvidia canned GeForce Experience and made an all-new official app.
The Nvidia App (oh, the hours upon hours that must’ve been spent in brainstorming marketing meetings coming up with that name) arrived in beta in February 2024. It was billed as an all-in-one replacement for GeForce Experience and the Nvidia Control Panel, plus the RTX Experience. All these separate pieces were instead housed under one convenient umbrella (where driver installs are handled, too).
That feedback was listened to in terms of implementing elements such as in-game frame rate and latency info (plus much more) in the revamped overlay for the Nvidia App, and it offered some smart new features such as easy GPU overclocking. The new app was generally well-received, appears to run smoothly and responsively in the main, and fortunately, there are no onerous account or login requirements here either – hopefully that’ll remain the case going forward.
There was one notable niggle that cropped up in mid-December, though, when reports emerged that an option in the Nvidia App could cause considerable slowdown of gaming frame rates. Nvidia is currently investigating that problem (at the time of writing), and there’s a fix (of sorts) for the apparent bug.
Naturally AI remained an area where Nvidia realized some big successes this year, and as we already mentioned, it helped to drive the company’s market value skywards (or moon-wards, perhaps we should say).
Team Green was predictably keen to push forward with new Rubin AI chips, the successor to Blackwell for AI workloads, being announced just a few months after the latter.
It’s possible that Rubin, which was the focus of Computex 2024, could power the GeForce graphics cards that follow the next generation – mirroring the way Blackwell has been deployed for AI GPUs and RTX 5000 desktop boards – so this could have been our first (sort of) sighting of RTX 6000. (If RTX 6000 ever happens, and here at TechRadar, we’ve made arguments as to why there are valid reasons to doubt this – namely the juggernaut profits in the AI world, of which there are a bunch of major concerns around, it has to be said).
(Image credit: Nvidia)
GeForce Now continues to evolve – with a catch
Last year was an important one for Nvidia’s streaming service for PC gamers, with the new ‘Ultimate’ subscription coming in (offering up to 240 frames per second, and a less laggy experience – for those with an internet connection up to the task, that is).
Early in 2024, Nvidia introduced a Day Pass for GeForce Now – allowing you to try out the full service for a day, to see how it works for you – and then towards the tail end of the year, a big upgrade was announced for the middle tier ‘Priority’ membership. This was renamed ‘Performance’ and Nvidia boosted its visual quality from 1080p to 1440p resolution (with ultrawide monitor support on top), all with no additional cost.
At least there was no financial cost, but there was a catch in the form of a monthly time limit imposed on these subscribers (and Ultimate tier members too). On the face of it, capping play time was a move to help Nvidia shorten queues and keep the streaming quality running smoothly, but it went down badly with some subscribers, who felt the 100-hour limit was too stingy.
Note that the new time limit doesn’t come into force until 2025 starts, and won’t apply to existing subscribers until 2026. Still, this led to plenty of threats of quitting GeForce Now on online forums – we’ll just have to see if that turns out to be mere noise, or whether a bunch of subscribers are indeed about to exit stage left.
(Image credit: Nvidia)
Concluding thoughts
In 2024, Nvidia brought some high-quality graphics cards into its Lovelace range, although the more affordable end of the GPU market was totally neglected (again). The company continues to dominate the desktop graphics card arena, and that won’t likely change in the near future – especially not at the higher-end where Nvidia won’t even be challenged going forward, if the rumors are right.
The Nvidia App was a high point for Team Green – and it’s great to see gamer feedback helped to shape the software – with DLSS also helping to build on, and reinforce, its consumer GPU success.
AI was the massive money-spinner, though, and the driving force behind Nvidia exploding to become the world’s most valuable company.
As we touched on above, the worry for PC gamers might be that the blistering success of AI GPUs – if it continues, and it doesn’t seem a good idea to bet against that – could mean Nvidia’s gaming graphics cards are eventually side-lined, or perhaps dispensed with entirely. With AMD also looking to cash in on AI, and Intel’s GPU prospects seeming shakier these days, all this does prompt some concern around the future of desktop graphics cards in the consumer marketplace.
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #298) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Relative conjunction
NYT Strands today (game #298) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
TOWN
WHEN
RENEW
TUNA
SWAN
CLUE
NYT Strands today (game #298) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Get together
NYT Strands today (game #298) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: left, 3rd row
Last side: right, 4th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #298) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Strands, game #298, are…
AUNT
INLAW
GRANDCHILD
NIECE
COUSIN
UNCLE
NEPHEW
SPANGRAM: REUNION
My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect
I’m sure I’m not the only one who started looking for nouns that introduce a relative clause in grammar (that, which, whom, etc), but that would have been a little too easy perhaps.
That said, today’s relative hunting wasn’t taxing – although even the thought of entertaining this many relations at a REUNION was enough to make me a little stressed.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, 25 December, game #297)
COAL
SOCKS
PENS
SCARF
TOYS
CANDY
ORANGE
PLUSHIE
SPANGRAM: STOCKING
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #1067) - hint #1 - Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #1067) - hint #2 - repeated letters
Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #1067) - hint #3 - uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.
