'I’d love to do a proper sci-fi score one day' — Control Resonant composer shares what kind of game he'd like to work on next, says 'one thing is sure: I’m not much good for a My Little Pony game'

• Control Resonant composer Petri Alanko shares what game he would like to work on next
• He says he would "love to do a proper sci-fi score one day" and enjoys "emotional psycho-thrillers a lot"
• Alanko says he would pass on any "cute cartoon-like games" like My Little Pony

Petri Alanko, the composer for Remedy Entertainment's Control, Control Resonant, and Alan Wake 2, has revealed which genre of game he would love to work on next, but insisted that "cute games" are a hard pass.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, Alanko said that with "synth" being part of his musical arsenal, he would "love to do a proper sci-fi score one day," and shared his enthusiasm for thrillers.

"Just gimme a project and free hands, thank you," Alanko said. "I enjoy emotional psycho-thrillers a lot; they offer so much writing ground, but combining that with some other, say, sci-fi flavours, now that would be something I’d love."

As for what he's working on right now, the composer said he's moved on to another game soundtrack, which he couldn't reveal, and also the movie Häyhä, which is about a WW2 Finnish sharpshooter, Simo Häyhä (aka The White Death).

He explained that "scoring movies is relatively easy, really," as "you have the linear media unchanged in front of you," and compared to the average game, " you need only a handful of music for it."

"I certainly don’t want to look down on any film composer," Alanko added. "I know several of them, and they are very dear to me, but in some ways, I feel like that posse has it pretty easy in their line of work."

Alanko went on to share which genre of game he would absolutely avoid if offered the chance to compose music for, including cozy games, because they don't align with his personal tastes.

"One thing is sure: I’m not much good for a My Little Pony game," he said. "Or cute cartoon-like games. Or rally games. Nothing against them, but I don’t have that in me. I’m from a Northern faraway country, and I live with a forest behind my house, and Nordic Noir is more or less a code of conduct in my whereabouts (laughs), so that pretty much stamps my life with [a] 'psycho-thrillers ahoy' badge."

Elsewhere, Alanko suggested studios should value music more if they care about their games and avoid AI at all costs, saying, "Love your game, love your handiwork. Respect the client: the gamers, the fans, dammit."

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, October 14 (game #955)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #954).

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 #955) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Folk and fairy tale twosomes

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• CANE
• TINT
• METER
• SHARE
• TROT
• STEM
• TROOP

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 13 letters

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 7th 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 #955) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #955, are…

• BEAUTY
• BEAST
• FROG
• PRINCESS
• TORTOISE
• HARE
• SPANGRAM: ONCEUPONATIME

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Imagination was not required in order to understand today’s theme and I was able to make the leap and spot ONCEUPONATIME dividing the folk and fairytale twosomes.

My approach was to complete the game in pairs, but that was really just to make it a little bit more interesting.

As a slow-moving person, constantly being followed by busy people “tutting” at my heels, The Tortoise and the Hare is my favourite fairytale. I usually align myself with the TORTOISE, but this game made me feel like a speedy impatient HARE.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, October 13, game #954)

• EMBARRASS
• APPALL
• NONPLUS
• CHAGRIN
• MORTIFY
• SPANGRAM: CRINGEWORTHY

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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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NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, October 14 (game #1221)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #1220).

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 Connections hints.

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 #1221) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• FEED
• THING
• SERVE
• SUGGESTION
• FIERY
• FLICKER
• FLASH
• FOMENT
• SMASH
• HULK
• TRACE
• FUMBLE
• SLICE
• WHIFF
• VOLLEY

NYT Connections today (game #1221) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: A small reveal
• GREEN: As seen at Wimbledon
• BLUE: Comic book champion
• PURPLE: A giant’s saying at the start

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 #1221) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: HINT
• GREEN: TENNIS SHOTS
• BLUE: SUPERHEROES, WITH "THE"
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM"

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1221) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1221, are…

• YELLOW: HINT: FLICKER, SUGGESTION, TRACE, WHIFF
• GREEN: TENNIS SHOTS: SERVE, SLICE, SMASH, VOLLEY
• BLUE: SUPERHEROES, WITH "THE": FLASH, HULK, PUNISHER, THING
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM": FEED, FIERY, FOMENT, FUMBLE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

There is often a link between Strands and Connections and today I can’t help thinking that the purple group STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM" has some NYT thread with today’s folk and fairy tale theme in Strands.

For me, the expression, along with the next line “I smell the blood of an Englishman”, is a strong reminder of being a small child, when all adults seemed like giants, as it is what my uncle would bellow at the start of a hide-and-seek game.

Anyway, I digress as I completely missed it in favour of TENNIS SHOTS (I wanted to add PUNISHER in there as I’m sure there are some players who call their best shot that) and SUPERHEROES, WITH “THE”.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, October 13, 2026, game #1220)

• YELLOW: DISCERNMENT: EYE, FLAIR, SENSE, TASTE
• GREEN: FASTEN: HITCH, LASH, TETHER, TIE
• BLUE: SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES: BELT, CUP, JACKET, RING
• PURPLE: LOOSE_____: CANNON, CHANGE, ENDS, LIPS

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 hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #1723)

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #1722).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 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 #1723) — hint #1 — Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #1723) — 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 2.

Quordle today (game #1723) — 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.

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• F

• D

• T

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1723) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1723, are…

• FLUFF
• DEBUT
• TEETH
• STEIN

I didn’t make any mistakes today, but this game still took me a long time to complete.

My difficulty was in finding a three-letter combination beginning with U from the letters I had left. Eventually I landed on the only possibility and a rare five-letter word containing three of the same letter — FLUFF.

Daily Sequence today (game #1723) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1723, are…

• TIDAL
• PAUSE
• SUING
• SHYLY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1722, Monday, 12 October: HELLO, BELOW, RIGHT, SLANT
• Quordle #1721, Sunday, 11 October: LILAC, INLET, TRIAD, SHAPE
• Quordle #1720, Saturday, 10 October: SWEAT, THIRD, RURAL, CLASP
• Quordle #1719, Friday, 9 October: OLDEN, DUNCE, SWATH, HILLY
• Quordle #1718, Thursday, 8 October: MINTY, ROWER, BROOD, RESET
• Quordle #1717, Wednesday, 7 October: PALER, FROTH, DOZEN, ERASE
• Quordle #1716, Tuesday, 6 October: FRESH, SKULK, BATCH, ENSUE
• Quordle #1715, Monday, 5 October: SIXTH, SPEAK, SEDAN, HEIST
• Quordle #1714, Sunday, 4 October: INFER, RAINY, THING, ARENA
• Quordle #1713, Saturday, 3 October: CHORE, FLYER, STICK, PURSE
• Quordle #1712, Friday, 2 October: IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL, LLAMA
• Quordle #1711, Thursday, 1 October: NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH, TACKY
• Quordle #1710, Wednesday, 30 September: CHOKE, BATCH, MOSSY, EAGER
• Quordle #1709, Tuesday, 29 September: BILGE, MEDAL, LODGE, PORCH
• Quordle #1708, Monday, 28 September: BRUNT, TORSO, STONE, HEATH
• Quordle #1707, Sunday, 27 September: VALET, CHEST, VIGIL, PUREE
• Quordle #1706, Saturday, 26 September: SNORT, BIBLE, LAPSE, CRANE
• Quordle #1705, Friday, 25 September: SWEAR, FLOOD, GUPPY, GROAN
• Quordle #1704, Thursday, 24 September: TOPIC, METRO, SCALP, FREED
• Quordle #1703, Wednesday, 23 September: SHEET, BLAND, JOIST, GUAVA

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #954)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #953).

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 #954) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Well, this is awkward

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SOME
• BREWS
• PART
• PATH
• FROM
• FROGS

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 12 letters

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 1st row

• Last side: right, 7th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #954) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #954, are…

• EMBARRASS
• APPALL
• NONPLUS
• CHAGRIN
• MORTIFY
• SPANGRAM: CRINGEWORTHY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

I’m classing this as tricky because despite getting by without hints it still took me longer than usual to complete the board.

After getting the spangram fairly quickly I was confident I’d roar through the board at speed, chuckling at memories of CRINGEWORTHY scenes from Something About Mary and Meet The Parents.

Alas, after getting EMBARRASS I struggled to think of any other synonyms for awkward; I thought NONPLUS meant you were indifferent. Ah well, every day’s a school day.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, October 12, game #953)

• PARLANCE
• JARGON
• VERNACULAR
• LINGO
• DIALECT
• SPANGRAM: TURNOFPHRASE

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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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NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #1220)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #1219).

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 Connections hints.

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 #1220) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• EYE
• LASH
• LIPS
• JACKET
• TIE
• SENSE
• CHANGE
• BELT
• RING
• TASTE
• CUP
• HITCH
• CANNON
• TETHER
• FLAIR
• ENDS

NYT Connections today (game #1220) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Very particular
• GREEN: Put together
• BLUE: What winners get
• PURPLE: Begin with the opposite of tight

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 #1220) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: DISCERNMENT
• GREEN: FASTEN
• BLUE: SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES
• PURPLE: LOOSE_____

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1220) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1220, are…

• YELLOW: DISCERNMENT: EYE, FLAIR, SENSE, TASTE
• GREEN: FASTEN: HITCH, LASH, TETHER, TIE
• BLUE: SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES: BELT, CUP, JACKET, RING
• PURPLE: LOOSE_____: CANNON, CHANGE, ENDS, LIPS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

Seeing LIPS, LASH and EYE on the top line of the grid immediately made me think about makeup, but I resisted the temptation to cobble a group together and instead waited to see if I could find anything more concrete.

I stumbled on a Purple First after trying to think about what possible group could contain CANNON and could only come up with weaponry and the phrase “loose cannon”, which chimed with CHANGE, ENDS, and LIPS.

Sadly I ruined my clean run with eight tiles left, as I thought we were looking for ways of strapping items of clothing, so I had BELT instead of TETHER in the group that became FASTEN.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, October 12, 2026, game #1219)

• YELLOW: STATUS: CONDITION, SHAPE, SITUATION, STATE
• GREEN: TOLERATE: BEAR, HANDLE, STAND, WEATHER
• BLUE: WORD SHORTENINGS, OFTEN: ABBREVIATION, CONTRACTION, ELISION, NICKNAME
• PURPLE: WORDS MADE USING U.S. POSTAL ABBREVIATIONS: ALKYLAMIDE, CALAMARI, MANDARIN, MELAMINE

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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The WoW: Forever team says it learned a lot from Classic: Season of Discovery, including managing the in-game economy and RMT — but Blizzard will be 'more careful and cautious' with class changes as it 'knew we were going too far'

• Blizzard Entertainment says it learned plenty of lessons from World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery
• It acknowledged that "we were going too far" with class changes in Season of Discovery and "Forever will be a lot more careful and cautious with slower class changes"
• The studio also learned "what levers we could create to help us manage the in-game economy" in Forever

Blizzard Entertainment has learned a lot from World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery, but it's taking care not to overindulge in class experimentation for World of Warcraft: Forever.

In the same lengthy interview with TechRadar Gaming, where Blizzard confirmed it doesn't plan to modernize Forever's classes, as it wants to preserve the Classic experience, the team shared what it learned from Season of Discovery, a seasonal release for Classic that reimagines progression systems, adds new abilities, unconventional class roles, and redesigned instances, and how it will apply those lessons to Forever.

The team said that it had fun exploring class changes, but admitted it went "too far" and is taking steps to be more considerate with how it applies updates in Forever.

"We pushed every class to the limit and explored every power fantasy on every class," Blizzard said. "But we knew we were going too far. It’s like eating all your Halloween candy on October 31. It’s fun and amazing, but afterward you are sick to your stomach.

"Forever will be a lot more careful and cautious with slower class changes."

Another lesson it learned from Season of Discovery was "what levers we could create to help us manage the in-game economy," something that sometimes suffers from botting and real-money trading (RMT).

It told us that it's actively working to combat RMT in Forever and has already devised penalties that, depending on the terms of service infraction, could result in permanent bans.

Blizzard continued, saying, "We built several systems both under the hood and player-facing that allowed us to control the inflow and outflow of key resources, which led to a much healthier economy, with much less problematic behavior such as RMT."

RMT has always been a huge issue in WoW, whether it's retail or Classic, and Blizzard confirmed it has "a number of new systems in place" to support detection.

"It’s a cat and mouse game, so talking too much about our plans here could tip our hand," it said. "Suffice to say, we are watching very closely, and engaging in RMT is not worth putting your account at risk."

Blizzard has also addressed WoW: Forever's controversial Skyborne race and explained why the Elf race is available to both Alliance and Horde. It's also shared why Summoning Stones won't be in the upcoming game.

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NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #1219)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #1218).

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 Connections hints.

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 #1219) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CALAMARI
• MANDARIN
• STATE
• ABBREVIATION
• NICKNAME
• HANDLE
• SHAPE
• WEATHER
• CONDITION
• CONTRACTION
• SITUATION
• BEAR
• ALKYLAMIDE
• STAND
• ELISION
• MELAMINE

NYT Connections today (game #1219) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Where we’re at
• GREEN: Put up or shut up
• BLUE: Brief words
• PURPLE: As seen on letters and packages

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 #1219) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: STATUS
• GREEN: TOLERATE
• BLUE: WORD SHORTENINGS, OFTEN
• PURPLE: WORDS MADE USING U.S. POSTAL ABBREVIATIONS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1219) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1219, are…

• YELLOW: STATUS: CONDITION, SHAPE, SITUATION, STATE
• GREEN: TOLERATE: BEAR, HANDLE, STAND, WEATHER
• BLUE: WORD SHORTENINGS, OFTEN: ABBREVIATION, CONTRACTION, ELISION, NICKNAME
• PURPLE: WORDS MADE USING U.S. POSTAL ABBREVIATIONS: ALKYLAMIDE, CALAMARI, MANDARIN, MELAMINE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

Living and growing up outside of the US put me at a disadvantage for today’s purple group — although I am still not sure I would have seen it even if I was based in the States. Kudos if you did.

I managed to get through without making any mistakes, but this was one of those games where I got by on hunches and luck and never had a strong hold on what the group categories might be.

ELISION was a word that I had not heard of before, but ABBREVIATION, CONTRACTION and NICKNAME all seemed to go together, so I took a chance. I have since discovered that it means “omission of one or more sounds, vowels, consonants, or whole syllables from a word or phrase to make speech faster and easier". Yes folks, it’s a good ‘un.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, October 11, 2026, game #1218)

• YELLOW: PUT TO USE: APPLY, HARNESS, UTILIZE, WIELD
• GREEN: MONTHLY BILLS: CABLE, ELECTRICITY, INTERNET, PHONE
• BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT: GLOVES, ICE SCRAPER, MAP, REGISTRATION
• PURPLE: ENDING IN GAMBITS: EMPLOY, PATRICK, PERUSE, SYNTACTIC

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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NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #953)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #952).

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 #953) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… In a manner of speaking

NYT Strands today (game #953) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SLING
• RANGER
• FOUL
• GONE
• LONG
• RACON

NYT Strands today (game #953) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 12 letters

NYT Strands today (game #953) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 8th 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 #953) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #953, are…

• PARLANCE
• JARGON
• VERNACULAR
• LINGO
• DIALECT
• SPANGRAM: TURNOFPHRASE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Another easy game where I got the Spangram second (there are no prizes or badges for that, unfortunately). Very annoying, although I did appreciate how TURNOFPHRASE took a turn across the board.

I was expecting to find the word “slang” on the board, but made do with the non-game word “sling”. Instead, we had the many different ways in which languages can be described.

Personally, I think DIALECT is fascinating, particularly how someone in the same country can ask for a cup of coffee in a hundred different ways depending on where they come from

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, October 11, game #952)

• PAGER
• ICEBOX
• INKWELL
• TYPEWRITER
• TELEGRAM
• SPANGRAM: OLDFASHIONED

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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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Can fans expect Goblins or Vulpera in WoW: Forever? Blizzard says it has 'no plans' to add modern WoW races to the game — 'Our main focus for the game is to build off the foundational lore of Warcraft'

• World of Warcraft: Forever won't receive any new races from retail World of Warcraft
• Blizzard says its "main focus" is to "build off the foundational lore of Warcraft," since Forever exists in its own "continuity"
• It confirms that the stakes won't be as high as retail WoW to begin with, as "You aren’t THE hero in WoW: Forever, you are just A hero"

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that it doesn't plan to add any modern World of Warcraft races to World of Warcraft: Forever, since the game exists in its own timeline.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, where the WoW: Forever team discussed adding the controversial dual-faction Skyborne race and its plans for the game's future, Blizzard said it doesn't plan to reintroduce any races from Azeroth-based expansions, such as Battle for Azeroth, Shadowlands, or Midnight.

"We have no plans to add races from WoW’s expansions at this time," Blizzard said, meaning fans shouldn't expect new races like Vulpera, Goblins, or Haranir.

And Blizzard's reasoning for avoiding the newer additions to retail WoW? It explained that it wants to build on the original Warcraft game because WoW: Forever essentially exists within its own timeline.

"Our main focus for the game is to build off the foundational lore of Warcraft," it said. "This means first and foremost the RTS [real-time strategy ] games, and we’ve hit on this right from the start with our content that picks up after the events of the new Warcraft 3: Forsaken Kingdom campaign.

"One of the liberating things about this game existing in its own continuity is that we can forge our own path forward and tell stories that serve the world of WoW: Forever first and foremost. It wouldn’t be fair to WoW: Forever and the players who want to see where this world is going for us to spend a ton of time trying to further flesh stories that have already been told extensively in the modern game."

Blizzard added that it plans to "keep our stories very grounded," explaining that while the stakes of modern WoW are "so vast" and "have that gravity and weight because of how far our characters have gone in that world," WoW: Forever will start "in a very different place."

"We may be a part of larger narratives and events, but how we interact with those narratives will be more subtle and grounded, just as was the case in original WoW," the team said, emphasising that "You aren’t THE hero in WoW: Forever, you are just A hero."

It continued, teasing, "That isn’t to say we’ll never go to some of the places that came in later WoW expansions, but we are fairly committed at this time to doing the WoW: Forever version of those places, not simply retreading the versions of these places that we’ve already seen."

Elsewhere in the same interview, Blizzard confirmed that it's actively working to combat real-money trading (RMT) in WoW: Forever.

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #952)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, October 10 (game #951).

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 #952) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… They don’t make ‘em like they used to

NYT Strands today (game #952) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• LARGE
• BOXES
• PRAM
• RETOLD
• SLOT
• GORE

NYT Strands today (game #952) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 12 letters

NYT Strands today (game #952) - 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 #952) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #952, are…

• PAGER
• ICEBOX
• INKWELL
• TYPEWRITER
• TELEGRAM
• SPANGRAM: OLDFASHIONED

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

I am old enough to remember when the heft of your Filofax demonstrated the level of your success — much as today the number of your social media followers, regardless of how many of them are AI bots, is a measure of self worth.

It’s all, of course, just a phase, as this selection is redundant — as once cutting-edge technology demonstrates.

Annoyingly I got OLDFASHIONED after spotting PAGER and ICEBOX (I really thought that X was going to be a fax machine) and regret that I didn’t spend longer trying to add to my Spangram First collection.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, October 10, game #951)

• HONEY
• SYRUP
• TREACLE
• MOLLASSES
• GRENADINE
• SPANGRAM: STICKYANDSWEET

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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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NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #1218)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, October 10 (game #1217).

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 Connections hints.

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 #1218) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• HARNESS
• MAP
• PERUSE
• PHONE
• GLOVES
• CABLE
• APPLY
• PATRICK
• ELECTRICITY
• WIELD
• ICE SCRAPER
• UTILIZE
• EMPLOY
• REGISTRATION
• SYNTACTIC
• INTERNET

NYT Connections today (game #1218) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Deploy
• GREEN: Paid off 12 times a year
• BLUE: Hidden in your car
• PURPLE: Final risks

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 #1218) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: PUT TO USE
• GREEN: MONTHLY BILLS
• BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT
• PURPLE: ENDING IN GAMBITS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1218) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1218, are…

• YELLOW: PUT TO USE: APPLY, HARNESS, UTILIZE, WIELD
• GREEN: MONTHLY BILLS: CABLE, ELECTRICITY, INTERNET, PHONE
• BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT: GLOVES, ICE SCRAPER, MAP, REGISTRATION
• PURPLE: ENDING IN GAMBITS: EMPLOY, PATRICK, PERUSE, SYNTACTIC

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

Congratulations if you saw ploy, trick, ruse, and tactic at the end of the four purple tiles.

This wasn’t the only thing that passed me by today.

After successfully getting the four utilities that made up MONTHLY BILLS and the THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT (I’d add a pack of mints, cheap sunglasses and a scrap of paper with an unknown phone number on it) I floundered over the yellow group, as I was convinced EMPLOY was one of the four.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, October 10, 2026, game #1217)

• YELLOW: USEFUL WHEN WRITING A PAPER: DRAFT, NOTES, OUTLINE, THESIS
• GREEN: PRESUME: FIGURE, GATHER, IMAGINE, SUPPOSE
• BLUE: SOCIAL MEDIA SECTIONS: FEED, MESSAGES, NOTIFICATIONS, PROFILE
• PURPLE: ___BOXING: BEAT, KICK, SHADOW, UN

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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WoW: Forever's classes won't be modernized, but Blizzard has added some new mechanics for 'engaging depth' as 'some classes' in World of Warcraft Classic 'were too simple'

• World of Warcraft: Forever's classes won't be modernized, Blizzard says
• However, they will receive more "engaging depth" since some Classic classes felt "too simple"
• Blizzard wants to serve the "Classic" ethos, while also "adding things to freshen up the vanilla experience"

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed it won't modernize World of Warcraft: Forever's classes, as it wants to align with the "Classic" experience, but some will receive more "engaging depth."

World of Warcraft has undergone many class and balance changes over the years, in both 'retail' and Classic, and with WoW: Forever launching next month, players can expect similar updates.

However, in an interview with TechRadar Gaming, the WoW: Forever team doesn't plan to dramatically alter vanilla classes fans are familiar with; instead, it wants to build on them to make them more engaging as part of its design framework.

Blizzard wants to make a "Classic Plus" experience centered around four design pillars (Nurture and Protect Social Experiences, Approachable and Familiar, World as the Main Character, and Journey before destination), which will help the team build on the vanilla experience while staying true to the game's established "core design, pacing, and tone."

With this in mind, Blizzard plans "to err on the side of simpler classes, but with engaging depth,". The company further explained that "some classes in the Classic era were too simple, so those have gained a few mechanics."

How many? "The level of mechanical complexity found in the beta classes is indicative of our intentions," the team said. "When considering encounter design, we want to align those with our core values. Namely Approachable and Familiar."

It explained that its encounter team played a lot of Classic dungeon and raid content "to truly get an understanding of how the Classic game felt," and it discovered that "encounters that were very approachable and systems that encouraged players to go out into the world, adventure, prepare, and come back ready to take on any sort of challenge ahead of them."

But when it comes to specific mechanics, "we want to empower the team to be creative and surprise the player, but we always want everything we do to point back to our core pillars."

Blizzard touched on the "complexity" of class combat, saying that it likes the pacing "the pacing and combat speed of original WoW, and that all the changes it makes to classes or raid content "need to still serve that" while also "adding things to freshen up the vanilla experience."

"Particularly in terms of classes," the team said, "as some classes or specs had wild power swings and/or sometimes uninteresting gameplay. That’s something we want to improve upon without drastically speeding up the game or making it overly complex or unapproachable."

As for specialization changes and multi-specs, the game already has Dual Specialization, which can be learned at level 40 for a cost, but there are "no plans to go past that."

"We do not want to have cheap respecs," Blizzard continued. "The first re-spec every hour is temporarily cheap in the beta. When the game goes live, the price of re-spec will climb quickly and only decrease once per week. We want players’ talent decisions to be meaningful. There is the possibility, however, of some increased re-spec utility coming to the Legacy talents in the future."

However, Blizzard does plan to incorporate "a lot of class changes in beta" with a rather ambitious update schedule. "When we do make changes, they will be batched up to all happen at the same time, rather than trickle in."

The company added that it anticipates frequent balance changes in the first six months, as it will be able to gather class performance data during this time. Blizzard said, "Initially, we plan this to be once per week."

However, the aim remains to make "very few design changes once the game goes live" on November 4.

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