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 #1636) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1636) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1636) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1636) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1636) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1636) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1636, are…

• KNAVE
• TIGHT
• BLEAT
• CHAOS

This was already a tricky game, with two words featuring silent letters. I navigated those okay, then crashed out — ending my win streak on the final word.

I had four possibilities for words ending I-G-H-T and I picked three wrong ones before I ran out of guesses.

Why I went with the obscure “wight” rather than TIGHT I can’t explain.

Daily Sequence today (game #1636) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1636, are…

• DEPTH
• CHUCK
• CRISP
• ETHOS

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
• Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING

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

NYT Strands today (game #867) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• COUNT
• STAY
• WOOLY
• LUNCH
• LONG
• LARGE

NYT Strands today (game #867) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #867) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #867) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #867, are…

• SWEET
• OATY
• NUTTY
• CRUNCHY
• SALTY
• WHOLESOME
• SPANGRAM: BOWLOFGRANOLA

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I go through phases with breakfasts of having the same thing for ages before getting bored and switching to something new.

In recent months I’ve been through porridge, overnight oats, fruit and yoghurt, and recently a BOWLOFGRANOLA all in pursuit of “a healthy breakfast" when in truth I would love to eat bacon and eggs every day.

I digress. After finding SWEET and OATY the search became a hunt for the obvious — although I was unaware granola could also be SALTY.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 17, game #866)

• ENTERTAINMENT
• NATURE
• SPORTS
• GEOGRAPHY
• SPANGRAM: TRIVIALPURSUIT

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

NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• PRIVATE
• MINT
• PLUGS
• GRATE
• TROPE
• RENT

NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #866) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #866, are…

• ENTERTAINMENT
• NATURE
• SPORTS
• GEOGRAPHY
• SPANGRAM: TRIVIALPURSUIT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Initially I thought we would be looking for synonyms of the word category, but instead we were on the hunt for the four of the six segments — or cheeses — that complete a game piece in TRIVIALPURSUIT.

Missing from the list are history and science.

Spotting ENTERTAINMENT — a tricky word to hide — kicked things off for me, with the letter V helping me connect the spangram. All in all a good deal shorter than an actual game of TRIVIALPURSUIT.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 16, game #865)

• TACK
• ZIGZAG
• TURN
• VEER
• DEVIATE
• PIVOT
• SWERVE
• SPANGRAM: CHANGECOURSE

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 #1635) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1635) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1635) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1635) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1635) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1635) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1635, are…

• CUMIN
• PALER
• GRASS
• INBOX

Crazy days as the rare letter X makes a second appearance of the week.

Having a B in the third letter position felt weird, then I remembered the old Quordle favorite INBOX.

That said, although it feels familiar, it hasn't appeared in the game since December last year. I think I must be playing this game too much.

Daily Sequence today (game #1635) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1635, are…

• SMOKY
• HANDY
• PINCH
• NAIVE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP

• A report commissioned by Mozilla accuses Microsoft of using 'harmful design' to undermine browser choice in Windows 11
• That allegedly includes trick wording, nagging, preselection, and generally dubious tactics to push Edge over other browsers
• The report does observe the situation is better in the European Economic Area, due to regulations there, and notes that "regulatory action works", urging authorities elsewhere to take a similar stand

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has published another report that claims Microsoft isn't maintaining a suitably level playing field for web browsers on Windows, and is unfairly pushing users towards Edge.

As Mozilla makes clear, it published the first 'Over the Edge' report – about 'How Microsoft's design tactics compromise free browser choice' – two years back, and the follow-up has just arrived (as spotted by Eteknix).

It's not actually written by Mozilla, I should note, but two independent researchers commissioned by the Firefox maker (Harry Brignull and Cennydd Bowles, the same pair who wrote the first article). It takes in user opinions from the US, UK, India and Germany regarding "key browser-choice journeys" on Windows 11 and 10.

In a nutshell, they conclude that: "Microsoft continues to deploy harmful design to undermine people's browser choice."

That specifically involves, according to the report: "Trick wording, obstruction, visual interference, preselection, nagging, and forced action — at almost every step of the user journey."

Some of the worst excesses highlighted are the pop-up banner that Edge users see when they go to the Chrome download page (trying to get them to stick with the Microsoft browser, which, it says, has the same tech as Chrome but with the "added trust of Microsoft"), and nagging within Windows around using Edge as the default browser in one way or another.

The report also notes how Edge is pre-pinned to the Windows taskbar, and how a migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11 resets Edge as the default browser, overriding any previous choice. There are a lot of accusations around trick wording, too, as well as an observation that Microsoft is using Copilot (AI) to open links in Edge rather than your default browser.

On the topic of AI, the report notes: "The researchers suggest that a sequence of seemingly minor consent requests across Windows and Edge may combine into a 'pipeline' funneling browsing data — potentially including data originating in rival browsers — into Microsoft's advertising and personalization systems."

It's notable that Germany — included as a representative country within the European Economic Area (EEA), which has different regulatory requirements Microsoft must adhere to — escapes quite a few of these excesses (the Chrome download nonsense included).

Despite that, the researchers argue that their broad conclusion that "Microsoft does not allow people to download and install an alternative browser, to set it as their default, or to continue using it as their default, without harmful interference" is, they claim, true "across every region tested".

Analysis: a call to regulate

Yes, this is a report commissioned by a browser rival, but these findings aren't at all surprising in the main, and it's long been known that Microsoft overzealously promotes Edge in Windows 11, trying various dubious shenanigans to get the browser in play as the report observes. Of course, on the flipside Google pulls similar stunts with Chrome.

Still, that's not an excuse, and no browser should be actively attempting to dissuade people from downloading another rival browser. What Mozilla is also pointing out, of course, is that Microsoft is in a particular position of power here, given that it owns the world's primary desktop OS, and it's leveraging that platform in various ways to push adoption of Edge.

Whether that's worked for Microsoft, or not — spoiler alert, it hasn't — is irrelevant, as this behavior obviously isn't ethical or fair, and while it may not have dented Chrome's reign as the top browser, it may have damaged smaller rivals like Firefox.

While the EEA may have a considerably better balance of browser equality within Windows, the report notes that this is, of course, because regulations have forced Microsoft's hand. Arguably, this is another negative in that it shows Microsoft only respects user choice in terms of browsers when it's forced to do so.

Mozilla finishes with the following paragraph that sums everything up nicely: "We again urge Microsoft to abandon these harmful patterns worldwide. And we urge regulators in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, and beyond to consider this report as evidence that regulatory action works — there is much still to do."

So, if Microsoft really wants to talk about "added trust", how about some action on some of these sticking points? Or is this just a case of having to be more trustworthy than Google?

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 #1634) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1634) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1634) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1634) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1634, are…

• IGLOO
• PLAIT
• YEAST
• AROMA

This was a tricky game — mainly due to two words ending in vowels.

I thought I had exhausted all words ending in the letter O, before I finally got to one ending in two of them.

Daily Sequence today (game #1634) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1634, are…

• NEEDY
• GOOFY
• ABIDE
• VISIT

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF

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

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• NOISE
• CHANCE
• VERSE
• TRUANT
• GIVE
• SKATE

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #865) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #865, are…

• TACK
• ZIGZAG
• TURN
• VEER
• DEVIATE
• PIVOT
• SWERVE
• SPANGRAM: CHANGECOURSE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Rerouting… is a word I used to see a lot when I used a sat nav in my car, so this is exactly the theme I was expecting — but I still struggled over it.

It’s not until you play Strands that you realize how many different ways there are to say the same thing, in this case a change of direction.

I took a hint to get going, but TACK didn’t help much. Then, I connected the two Zs for ZIGZAG and finally got motoring.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 15, game #864)

• QUIXOTIC
• IDEALISTIC
• ROMANTIC
• IMPRACTICAL
• SPANGRAM: PIEINTHESKY

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 #1633) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1633) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1633) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1633) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1633, are…

• PROXY
• BRICK
• BROTH
• SURGE

As befits the appearance of a rare letter it took me a while to find the word PROXY.

Instead, I was trying every letter combination left to me, which is how I ended up with “grovy”.

Daily Sequence today (game #1633) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1633, are…

• FUZZY
• THERE
• TEMPO
• CAUSE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE

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

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• QUIT
• MARKET
• MAIN
• PLACE
• PLINTH
• RELICS

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #864) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #864, are…

• QUIXOTIC
• IDEALISTIC
• ROMANTIC
• IMPRACTICAL
• SPANGRAM: PIEINTHESKY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Just four long words made up today’s game, but that didn’t make the search any easier.

I am more familiar with a slight variation on today’s theme — rose-tinted spectacles — which I had viewed as meaning to look favorably on something you are biased towards (such as the fortunes of your team). But the words here leaned more towards fanaticism.

Regardless of interpretation I needed a hint to get going and was rewarded with QUIXOTIC, a word I would have failed to see otherwise. From here I found the other two words with a T-I-C ending, before the spangram helped me to locate IMPRACTICAL.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, July 14, game #863)

• CHAIR
• ROCKER
• BEANBAG
• OTTOMAN
• RECLINER
• THRONE
• SPANGRAM: HAVEASEAT

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 #1632) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1632) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1632) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1632) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1632, are…

• EBONY
• AVOID
• RODEO
• CUTIE

There was a while when I doubted my three starter words of “duchy”, “robin” and “slate”, but they really have helped me whiz through games recently.

Today, for example, I had three words where I had all the right letters (but not necessarily in the right order) and one word where the missing letter was obvious.

Daily Sequence today (game #1632) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1632, are…

• SEDAN
• VALVE
• FAULT
• SMELT

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY

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

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• RELIC
• SOCK
• BREAK
• ERASE
• HORN
• RAVE

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #863) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #863, are…

• CHAIR
• ROCKER
• BEANBAG
• OTTOMAN
• RECLINER
• THRONE
• SPANGRAM: HAVEASEAT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Today’s search takes from the high-born of the seating world (THRONE), to the lowest (BEANBAG).

If I am going to make myself comfortable then I would pick the BEANBAG any day. Although it does depend on how long you’ve owned it; a baggy bean bag is nobody’s friend. Having said that, I’ve not sat in many thrones. Or indeed any, but judging by House of the Dragon, they’re not particularly ergonomic.

Anyway, it was hard not to whizz around today’s game, with even the longest and most obscure word, OTTOMAN, being easy to spot thanks to the double T.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, July 13, game #862)

• PLEASANT
• DELIGHTFUL
• ENJOYABLE
• SATISFYING
• SPANGRAM: HITSTHESPOT

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

NYT Strands today (game #862) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• LEAN
• TASTE
• THESPIAN
• HUNT
• JEST
• HIDES

NYT Strands today (game #862) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #862) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #862) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #862, are…

• PLEASANT
• DELIGHTFUL
• ENJOYABLE
• SATISFYING
• SPANGRAM: HITSTHESPOT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Only four words to spot but my goodness were they difficult to see.

Fortunately, the board was brimming with non-game words, including a couple of uncommonly long ones, so I took a hint.

However, even after getting PLEASANT I still didn’t understand the search and labored over the remaining three words and the Woodhousean spangram.

I hope it was all more DELIGHTFUL and SATISFYING for you.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, July 12, game #861)

• STOOP
• BOROUGH
• BODEGA
• SUBWAY
• TAXI
• BAGEL
• DELI
• SPANGRAM: EMPIRESTATE

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 #1631) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1631) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1631) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1631) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1631) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1631) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1631, are…

• VOICE
• BISON
• BURNT
• BUILT

Another easy game for me today, due to several key factors.

Firstly, again my starter words gave me a huge helping hand and secondly having three words beginning with the same letter was hugely beneficial.

Daily Sequence today (game #1631) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1631, are…

• HORSE
• FAULT
• PENNE
• STONE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR

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 #1630) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1630) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1630) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1630) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1630) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1630) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1630, are…

• STAIN
• BINGO
• LARVA
• DICEY

There was only one word that contained two of the same letter — LARVA — and realizing that was a probability with L, A, and R in incorrect positions helped me finish without any stress.

That said, this was a particularly charmed game for me, with my starter words giving me two simple anagrams.

Hope it was easy like Sunday morning for you, too.

Daily Sequence today (game #1630) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1630, are…

• CLONE
• TROPE
• MEDAL
• SKIER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER

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

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• GABLE
• WAXY
• GRIP
• TILED
• DATA
• HUGGER

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #861) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #861, are…

• STOOP
• BOROUGH
• BODEGA
• SUBWAY
• TAXI
• BAGEL
• DELI
• SPANGRAM: EMPIRESTATE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

It took me a while to see BAGEL and DELI, possibly because I don’t associate them uniquely with New York, but this slight delay aside today’s game was a breeze.

I even managed to spot the spangram before any game words — EMPIRESTATE towering from the top to the bottom of the board, much like the magnificent building — earning myself the Spangram First 100 times badge.

As Alicia Keys sang, “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” — although this possibly doesn’t apply if your dream is acing word searches.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, July 11, game #860)

• CHEESE
• SOUP
• MILK
• TUNA
• PEPPER
• SALT
• NOODLES
• SPANGRAM: CASSEROLE

Whether rain or shine, weekday or weekend, my morning starts with a scroll.

It’s one of my most enduring habits. I’ll start by checking the time, before allowing myself a few texts or emails in the name of ‘productivity’, and before long, I’m lying there watching people throwing bowling balls at TVs or reading ragebait in the comments section.

I’ve long suspected that this isn’t the optimal way to start the day, but it was only after a recent moment of mid-scroll lucidity that I began to wonder why I reach for my phone first thing in the morning.

As it happens, research on early-morning phone habits suggests that it’s not just me diving into social media as soon as the alarm goes off.

The Independent reports that 81% of Brits reach for their phone as soon as they wake up, while a 2025 YouGov report found that the majority of US adults under 30 often use their phone right before sleeping and right after waking up.

These figures could suggest that most of us shared a mental tendency to pick up the phone right after waking up, but without additional context, they can’t tell the whole story.

So, to find out more about why I and so many others scroll first thing in the morning, I spoke to two psychology experts to connect the dots between ancient human behaviour and the supercomputers we keep in our pockets, and indeed our beds.

Information vs stimulation

“To boil it down as simply as possible, it’s a combination of our natural dopamine reward system and the fact that we are communal people,” says psychotherapist and addiction specialist John Puls.

Puls tells me that long-standing psychological drivers are pushing us to use our devices in the mornings, where in the past we might’ve sought different kinds of connection

“We are pleasure-seeking people, and one of the ways we do that is through engagement with our smartphones, particularly social media,” he explains, “and we want to know what’s going on in the world.”

Puls continues: “Previously, in closer communities with less technology, it wouldn’t be uncommon to just spend some time with your neighbours or your family in the morning. In the absence of that, people are looking for immediate connection, and the easiest way to do that is through the smartphone. You have to take into account the changes that have come with the smartphone, but these are natural impulses that social media is fulfilling.”

For clinical psychologist Dr. Ari Lakritz, the smartphone and all the news it connects us to fulfil an evolutionary impulse to detect threats: “The brain is somewhat hardwired to look for pertinent information, especially the more threatening information. The part of the brain that deals with that is called the amygdala — it’s one of the most ancient parts of the brain, one that’s most responsible for the fear response.”

“News sites, with their slant towards negative news, are hacking into an inborn part of ourselves,” he adds, “and when you’re looking at your phone as the first thing you’re doing, it may not be all that different from one of our ancestors scanning the horizon for threats.”

“We develop very early on to be aware of possible threats to ourselves, and to scan the environment for those [threats],” Lakritz continues, adding that the availability of information that may not be relevant to phone and social platform users could be increasing stress levels: “The existence of something we feel is negative or threatening in a far off country has no direct relevance to us, but we do find ourselves psychologically pulled to that.”

“It’s really assaulting people with a great deal of information that is not directly relevant to them, and definitely doing more harm than good… there’s this whole other aspect of life, which is positive news and uplifting stories that people are either not drawn to or simply not sent as much.”

Social media algorithms are blackboxed — meaning users aren’t privy to the decisions and equations that decide the content they see. With that said, it’s generally accepted that algorithms are designed to maximize engagement of any kind, and, as The Conversation reports, anger spreads more quickly through social media networks than other emotions.

As John Puls notes, this has a physical effect as well as an emotional one: “When you immediately go into your smartphone [in the morning] and start doomscrolling, so to speak, you’re releasing cortisol, a stress hormone, and your brain is getting overstimulated.”

“We’re basically in the middle of a giant experiment,” Puls continues, “our brains were not necessarily meant to be this stimulated first thing in the morning and then consistently throughout the day. Where it becomes problematic is with the risk of overstimulation — there’s a risk of constant pleasure-seeking that dulls the senses.”

Effects of the morning scroll

According to Dr. Ari Lakritz, beginning the day with an intake of highly charged, negative information can have major effects on one’s mood and focus. He describes social media as “unlimited scrolling” of “dramatic news that can get our fight or flight response very worked up.”

“It’s really not good,” he explains, “and it very much sets the tone of one’s cognitive framing. It’s very fast, intense stimulation, whether that’s YouTube Shorts, TikTok style videos, or even just Reddit-style scrolling through very short, snappy comments or news stories.”

Lakritz continues: “If my baseline is very fast, short, intense bursts of entertainment, when confronted with something that takes more focus or deeper thinking it’ll be hard to move on from that set point.”

When asked whether early morning phone use is always problematic, Dr. Lakritz makes few exceptions: “Aside from more extreme circumstances, it’s hard to think of a good advantage one is getting with the phone right there that couldn’t be gotten in a non-technological way.”

John Puls tells me that he’s noticed that several of his clients experience discomfort when away from their phones for even short periods of time: “It almost becomes an emotional support phone — if anything happens in our life, an interpersonal problem, a problem with our relationship, we could experience that discomfort until we scroll on Instagram.”

And for young people, even higher stakes could influence phone use from dawn till dusk.

‘If they don’t exist online, they don’t exist socially’

It’s worth noting at this point that I interviewed John Puls and Dr. Ari Lakritz separately, and without either knowing of the other’s involvement in this article. With that said, both professionals agreed that early morning phone use has a tighter hold — and greater impact — on young people.

“The teens that I’m working with that struggle with this, I have them check their screen time, and on average it’s between 14 and 15 hours,” says Puls, “that’s the majority of time that they’re awake.”

“Naturally, what comes with that is being pretty disconnected from people in real life [...] so there’s this pressure to constantly be online. Teens want to psychologically individuate from their families and feel part of a community, particularly with their friends. So they often feel the pressure that they can’t be part of that unless they’re on their phones.”

“For younger people, they feel that if they don’t exist online, they don’t exist socially.”

Dr. Ari Lakritz says that phone use in general has a huge impact on young people’s psychological growth: “It touches child development in a profound way. It’s a huge compound for something like ADHD, and makes assessment of ADHD very complicated — you have to piece apart how much of this is inattention issues, or developmental, and how much is very, very high exposure to electronic entertainment.”

Taking back time

Olivia Yokubonis, known online as Olivia Unplugged, is a digital wellness strategist for Opal, one of the best-known screen time limiter apps. She tells me that she “meets people where they are” with a message of digital balance and wellbeing, sharing tips and tricks to a combined social media audience of 600,000 followers.

"I was an Opal user before I even started working here,” Yokubonis explains, “the goal is to help people stop feeling like they’re the victim of their phones, and actually feel like they’re in control again.”

“I’m not anti-technology, I’m pro agency,” she adds, “you have to focus on awareness. I’m a big advocate of the idea that we can’t change what we don’t notice. And the morning scroll is very often unconscious.”

At the time of writing, Opal boasts more than a million daily users, and in 2026 announced that the app had saved its user base a total of 500 million hours — but Yokubonis’ strategies go further than just using the app: “Something I’ve implemented with my family is no-phone zones. The bedroom is one of those places — we put our phones in the other room, our alarms go off, and we have to get up and go get it.”

She adds: “Digital wellness means your attention is not constantly being fragmented, that you can think in complete thoughts and sentences, and that you don’t lose hours of your day, especially the first few hours of the day, without realising it [...] We need the ability to choose to go on a social media app rather than have it be a habit, or something that’s just automatically happening because my nervous system is reaching for something.”

“We have a finite amount of willpower, and these apps have an unlimited amount of resources. They are designed to use up that willpower.”

On a similar note, Dr Ari Lakritz explains that even a marginal reduction in screen time can make a big difference: “Check your screen time, add up how much you do per week, and try to cut it down by 10%. If it’s 60 hours a week, just cut off six, see what you can do. You don’t have to be a digital hermit to improve.”

Though high screen time correlates to higher revenues for many phone makers and mobile software developers, a rising tide of social media legislation and backlash against big tech could push some brands to recognise its problematic potential.

Indeed, some smartphone manufacturers are beginning to acknowledge the issue of excessive phone use, and are developing software-based features to help users curb their screen time.

Nothing, for instance, believes its Glyph Matrix and Essential Space features will ‘help you be more human’, while Google's upcoming Pause Point tool will redirect you away from social media apps towards more meaningful forms of smartphone engagement. Apple, too, recently announced a slew of wellbeing-focused upgrades for its Screen Time feature in iOS 27.

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 #1629) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1629) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1629) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1629) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1629) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1629) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1629, are…

• WORTH
• PRONG
• DINGO
• DRUID

One of my favorite things about playing Quordle is when you visualize a word before typing it and just know it’s right.

Of course, quite often that feeling can end abruptly, but sometimes, like today for me you get it four times.

Daily Sequence today (game #1629) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1629, are…

• MERIT
• OAKEN
• GAILY
• GLEAM

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID

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

NYT Strands today (game #860) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• PROSE
• DATE
• POEM
• SALE
• CANE
• TAUNT

NYT Strands today (game #860) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #860) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #860) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #860, are…

• CHEESE
• SOUP
• MILK
• TUNA
• PEPPER
• SALT
• NOODLES
• SPANGRAM: CASSEROLE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I have never sampled the delights of a tuna casserole, so I went on a Google search after completing today’s game and found dozens of variations to the Strands recipe including the addition of lime, swapping the noodles for macaroni, and adding a potato chips topping.

It seems easy to make so I’m going to give it a go — but without the MILK.

Meanwhile, despite my culinary blank, I managed to navigate the board without any issues. A tasty start to the weekend.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 10, game #859)

• BELIEVE
• HISTORY
• HASTE
• GOOD
• MERRY
• LOVE
• SENSE
• SPANGRAM: WECANMAKEIT

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 #1628) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1628) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1628) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1628) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1628) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1628) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1628, are…

• GREET
• STEAK
• DUSKY
• HAUTE

It took me a while to realize that my final word must have two letter Es.

But after getting that right I made the error of believing it had a rare letter too.

Fortunately I had enough lines left to survive my impulsiveness.

Daily Sequence today (game #1628) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1628, are…

• DECRY
• ADOBE
• CABIN
• ESSAY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE

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

NYT Strands today (game #859) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• STAY
• STORY
• SNAKE
• LEEK
• ROBE
• HATE

NYT Strands today (game #859) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #859) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #859) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #859, are…

• BELIEVE
• HISTORY
• HASTE
• GOOD
• MERRY
• LOVE
• SENSE
• SPANGRAM: WECANMAKEIT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

Is it possible to look at today’s theme and not say to yourself “... therefore I am”? Apparently it is, because the words that complete “I think…” here were instead the more seemingly everyday “we can make it”.

Thinking that I was missing out on some cultural reference point I googled all of today’s game words, along with the spangram, and the AI result claimed that all the words feature in the 17th-century Irish Jacobite love song, Mo Ghile Mear (My Gallant Hero). And there was me thinking it was from Ted Lasso or a Taylor Swift song I’d not heard of.

Despite my ignorance I was able to navigate the game without using any hints.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 9, game #858)

• STICK
• GLOSS
• STAIN
• LINER
• TINT
• BALM
• PLUM
• SPANGRAM: KISSANDMAKEUP

Do you remember the metaverse? If you don’t, don’t worry. In 2026, four years into the AI revolution that’s changing the world forever, you could easily be forgiven for thinking it was a strange fever dream you had back in 2021. You might even have odd memories of seeing a blocky version of Mark Zuckerberg floating about in a Minecraft-inspired hellscape, conducting meetings with people who could walk with no legs, while the real Mark Zuckerberg was looking at the whole thing through VR goggles. At least, that’s my memory of it.

I could be suffering from the Mandela effect, but I distinctly remember something off about the legs. They fixed that in a later version, but that’s my overriding memory — no legs. Oh, and Mark Zuckerberg assuring us that this was the future. He’d spent tens of billions of dollars on it, even changing the company name from Facebook to Meta, just to let us know he was really serious about the metaverse. Even if the legs didn’t work.

The problem was, it looked laughable. While everything in the technology world to do with games and special effects was moving in the direction of hyper-realism, the metaverse was moving in the opposite direction, towards the sort of blocky graphics that small children enjoy. But even that didn’t really answer the most basic question about the metaverse. Why? What possible advantage was there for us all to meet in a VR space where clunky avatars of ourselves could interact… badly?

Then AI happened and Meta abruptly forgot about the metaverse and pivoted towards the mission of putting personal superintelligence in all our hands instead, which sounds as terrifying and dangerous as it actually is, but we are where we are. At least when Zuckerberg was obsessed with the metaverse, we could ignore him. It existed somewhere “over there”, in Meta-land, where we could let him get on with it. Now he’s right up in our business again.

The rise of a bad idea

I’ve always been fascinated by how Zuckerberg got into the metaverse and why he became so obsessed with it. The origins of the metaverse go way back. In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus, the VR company, for about $2 billion. This was where his passion for VR started. Think of it as the seed, not the full obsession.

By July 2021, Zuckerberg gave a long interview to Casey Newton at The Verge about Facebook becoming a “metaverse company” and described it as an “embodied internet”. Then, on October 28, 2021, his obsession became the company identity. Zuckerberg announced that Facebook the company was becoming Meta at Connect 2021, saying the new company brand would focus on bringing the metaverse to life.

I can see the logic. As a business strategy, that made sense. As a product ordinary people were expected to use, it was much harder to understand. Zuckerberg did not want Meta/Facebook to be trapped inside someone else’s platform again. Facebook had won on social, but on mobile it remained dependent on Apple and Google for distribution, privacy rules, app-store policies and hardware. The metaverse looked like a chance to own the next operating system of social life: hardware, avatars, identity, payments, meetings, gaming, work, commerce — the whole stack. In his 2021 founder’s letter, he framed the metaverse as the “next chapter of the internet” and said Meta would become “metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.”

Facebook had obviously had its problems — it was scandal-ridden. It had let advertisers target vulnerable teenagers, helped fake news spread, and enabled the spread of hate speech linked to atrocities in Myanmar. Perhaps Zuckerberg was looking for a way out of Facebook, and the metaverse offered that.

What I still didn’t understand was why he didn’t see what the rest of us saw — that it looked terrible and offered no real benefit to users. Then I read Sarah Wynn-Williams’ tell-all book about Facebook, Careless People, and it all started to make sense.

To say the book made my jaw hit the floor on several occasions would be an understatement. It’s an absolute page-turner, and your reactions grow from mild amusement to shock, then disbelief, then absolute outrage the further through the book you get. I’m aware of the criticisms of Wynn-Williams: that it is a book written by a disgruntled employee, and that she dodges a lot of personal responsibility for her part in the various misdeeds of the company. However, in another perfect example of the Streisand effect, the fact that Meta obtained a legal order in the United States to prevent her from saying anything negative about the company — at all — made me want to pick it up, and I’m glad I did.

Because now I get it — Zuckerberg seems to have spent years in an environment where too few people were willing to tell him when his ideas weren’t good. According to Wynn-Williams, he was surrounded by sycophants. When he had bad ideas, like the ill-fated Internet.org, he wouldn’t let them go and persisted with them, even when they were obviously going to fail. The people around him enabled him because he was simply too powerful. They even let him win at the board games he liked to play with them at his house or on his jet, and — crucially — he didn’t notice that they were letting him win. I can imagine that in that environment, nobody inside Meta would want to tell Zuckerberg that his metaverse was the equivalent of the emperor’s new clothes, especially if they wouldn’t even risk beating him at Settlers of Catan.

Wynn-Williams only mentions the metaverse in her epilogue. It happened after she was brutally fired from Facebook. Perhaps selfishly, I wish she’d been there for the metaverse period, because I would love to read firsthand accounts of how and why Zuckerberg persisted with such an obviously bad idea.

The fall of the metaverse

Maybe I’m being too harsh on Zuckerberg. The metaverse graphics did get better over time and Apple ventured slightly into the same territory with its Apple Vision Pro, even after the metaverse had turned into a smoldering wasteland. The fact is, people don’t enjoy wearing VR goggles for extended periods of time, and for normal people, VR lacks that one killer app. There doesn’t seem to be anything you can do in a VR space that you can’t do elsewhere much more easily.

The metaverse didn’t really die with a bang, but with a whimper. It faded through layoffs, spending cuts and the AI pivot. If I had to put a date on it, I’d say early 2023 was when Meta’s narrative moved on. In February and March 2023, Zuckerberg started talking about Meta’s “year of efficiency” and announced huge layoffs and cost-cutting. OpenAI had launched ChatGPT in November 2022, and by early 2023, generative AI had swallowed the oxygen that ideas like the metaverse need to survive. Every tech company was talking about AI now, not virtual offices and avatar legs.

The metaverse was over. We all forgot about it and moved on.

I’m glad I read Wynn-Williams’ book, because now I can understand how Facebook let the metaverse happen. And if there’s one thing I learned from reading it, it’s that money and power can bring you a lot of things, but common sense requires neither.

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 #1627) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1627) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1627) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1627) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1627) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1627) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1627, are…

• CRUMP
• PHONE
• SHINY
• STONY

It does feel like Quordle has been going easy on us recently.

This game, for example, featured two words that began with the same letter and ended with the same two letters. I cannot remember a gift like that in months.

Daily Sequence today (game #1627) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1627, are…

• SNAKY
• GRIEF
• DRAWL
• CHIRP

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN

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

NYT Strands today (game #858) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• ALONG
• TIERS
• LUMP
• MUSE
• BLISS
• PLUME
• MAKER

NYT Strands today (game #858) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #858) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #858) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #858, are…

• STICK
• GLOSS
• STAIN
• LINER
• TINT
• BALM
• PLUM
• SPANGRAM: KISSANDMAKEUP

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

The first sight of this theme made me think of the old weight-loss mantra “a moment on the lip, a lifetime on the hips” intended to warn dieters off the brief pleasure of a potato chip, as opposed to the lifelong delight of a slender physique.

I digress, as we weren’t looking for dieting advice but instead things that could be applied to lips — of which there are many possibilities.

Fortunately, despite the high number of words in the search they were all short and easy to spot, with the biggest challenge provided by the 13-letter-long spangram.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 8, game #857)

• SCAMP
• HELLION
• RAPSCALLION
• WHIPPERSNAPPER
• SPANGRAM: LITTLEDEVIL

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 #1626) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1626) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1626) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1626) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1626) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1626) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1626, are…

• GHOST
• TREND
• EXALT
• ALONG

Even though I could see no other possibility other than EXALT, whenever a rare letter comes to mind there is always a moment of pause.

Fortunately I got my first three words easily, so I had plenty of space left if it didn’t work out.

Daily Sequence today (game #1626) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1626, are…

• PREEN
• BLARE
• RUPEE
• WHICH

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH

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

NYT Strands today (game #857) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• HIVE
• CREED
• SPARE
• VICE
• SALE
• CRAPS

NYT Strands today (game #857) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #857) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #857) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #857, are…

• SCAMP
• HELLION
• RAPSCALLION
• WHIPPERSNAPPER
• SPANGRAM: LITTLEDEVIL

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

There were a few different ways to connect LITTLE and DEVIL and I think I tried them all before finally getting a rare, for me at least, spangram first.

The rest of the board was far trickier. After getting SCAMP I used a hint but even with it I struggled to see HELLION — not a word I’ve ever heard before.

Next the non-game word “scallion” helped me see RAPSCALLION before my misery was ended with the brilliantly old-fashioned WHIPPERSNAPPER — a great word, but possibly not one you use when reporting “trouble” to the police.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, July 7, game #856)

• CART
• BUGGY
• WAGON
• CARRIAGE
• STAGECOACH
• SLEIGH
• SPANGRAM: IGETAROUND

• Samsung Messages has been killed off to make room for Google Messages
• Right now it's just affecting US users, but a wider shutdown is likely to happen
• We recommend making Google Messages your default SMS service

After months of waiting, the dreaded day for Android users arrived: Samsung Messages has finally been shut down for good as of July 6.

The Korean tech company announced its decision to axe its messaging service for Galaxy Phones and tablets in April, with Google Messages taking over as the new default communication platform for devices released in 2022 and onwards.

Samsung stopped installing its flagship messaging platform on devices in 2024, so if you’re using the Galaxy S26 Ultra, for example, Google Messages will already be installed.

So what happens now?

At the moment, Samsung Messages’ demise is only impacting users in the US, according to recent reports. According to SamMobile, it may still work outside the US on devices the app was pre-installed on, but it’s likely that a wider shutdown will follow suit in other countries later — it’s been removed from the Galaxy Store and Google Play Store, and UK users on Reddit are reporting its replacement with Google Messages.

That said, if your device is running Android 11 or lower, the shutdown won’t affect you, according to Forbes. However, the outlet notes that those on a more recent version should switch to Google Messages.

Samsung Messages’ shutdown has been a long process, and though users have been anticipating the move for some time, it doesn’t mean that they’re ready to bid farewell to the app just yet.

Comment from r/S24Ultra

Across the board of reactions on Reddit, the general consensus is that Samsung Messages will be missed. “If I wanted to use Google’s POS services I would’ve bought a pixel,” one user explains, but from Samsung’s perspective, it’s all about giving users a messaging experience enriched with handy features.

The company says that the switch to Google Messages will help bring features to Samsung Galaxy devices to align with modern messaging tools used in third-party apps such as WhatsApp. This includes end-to-end encryption, AI tools, and RCS messages, which Google Messages now allows to be sent between iOS and Android devices.

Still haven’t made the switch to Google Messages? We’d recommend doing this sooner rather than later, and it’s quite a straightforward process.

Once you’ve uninstalled Samsung Messages and downloaded the Google Messages app, launch it and a pop-up reading ‘Set default SMS app’ will appear on your device. Tap this, select Google Messages from the options, then tap ‘Set as default’. You can add Google Messages to your Home screen by tapping and holding the app and selecting ‘Add to Home’.

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 #1625) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1625) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1625) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1625) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1625) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1625) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1625, are…

• ARRAY
• SUITE
• KIOSK
• BOULE

As is often the case with five-vowel games, this was a tricky.

It took me an age of experimentation and head scratching before I finally saw KIOSK after putting the three letters I knew in the I-O-S order and seeing if anything would fit either end. What a relief to get there in the end!

Hopefully it wasn’t as painful for your noggin as it was for mine.

Daily Sequence today (game #1625) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1625, are…

• VIRAL
• CHAIN
• MIRTH
• TIARA

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR

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

NYT Strands today (game #856) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• CARGO
• GATE
• SLATE
• CHAIR
• REAR
• GORE

NYT Strands today (game #856) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #856) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #856) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #856, are…

• CART
• BUGGY
• WAGON
• CARRIAGE
• STAGECOACH
• SLEIGH
• SPANGRAM: IGETAROUND

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I was having a merry old ride around this board until the final word and spangram slowed me down to a standstill.

Spangrams like IGETAROUND really are my nemesis and I came close, but not that close, to using a hint, but thankfully saw the unseasonal SLEIGH just in time before I disappeared into a letter-soup haze.

Finding non-game words was actually a good deal harder and I struggled to find the six required for this page.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, July 6, game #855)

• BLOOM
• EXPAND
• SPREAD
• FLOURISH
• THRIVE
• BURGEON
• SPANGRAM: SUMMERTIME

• Merlin Bird ID is a go-to app for bird identification, with more than 40 million downloads
• It can identify over 2,000 species of birds by sound recognition
• A future update will share sound recordings with eBird, a huge biodiversity database

If you're into birdwatching, you'll need no introduction to the popular Merlin Bird ID app, by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With over 40 million downloads worldwide, and over two million monthly users in the UK alone, Merlin is the go-to app for bird identification for many.

I'm in my forties, and birding has become one of my recent new hobbies, after years of photographing birds while testing cameras and lenses. And while I'm learning, I simply can't identify all the birds I see or hear, especially in my local nature reserve, which is a migration route for varied and sometimes rare birdlife throughout the year, and a popular birding spot.

The app helps me to identify the birds I'm unfamiliar with by their call / song, using machine learning sound recognition, and gives me lightning-fast and almost always reliable results, with an image for each identified bird. It's super helpful.

I can also feed the app one of my photos for identification, such as those taken during a recent outing with the Sony 400-800mm lens, with the results based on location data and other information from a database of more than 2,000 bird species.

So I was delighted to hear that the app — which is free for iOS and Android, with downloadable offline bird packs by location including US, Canada and Europe — is getting an update which will help users like me give something back: integration with Cornell's own eBird database, as reported by the Guardian.

A new wave of citizen scientists

eBird is a huge citizen-science biodiversity database, with over two billion recordings logged worldwide since its 2002 launch. And it's set for an influx of new data — the Merlin Bird ID app update will in future allow bird identifications to automatically flow directly into the eBird database.

Jessie Barry, of the Merlin project, told the Guardian, "Upcoming feature developments will make an even better link to the eBird systems so that we can use the data from what users ‘hear’ with Merlin to monitor bird populations."

Bird conservation is a hot topic, what with bird numbers declining. The UK, for example, has 70 million fewer birds than it did 50 years ago. So here's the good part: these records could provide vital information to conversation efforts for at-risk birdlife around the world.

Barry added: “This data helps create tools that can be used to further conservation, inspire support and inform ecological management strategies.”

Notwithstanding the cautionary note of the app's outright accuracy, with concern from some about it occasionally misidentifying birds, the Merlin Bird ID app update could be a huge boost for bird conservation efforts.

Being directly connected to the go-to bird identification app, eBird stands to receive more data from millions of users, who don't need to make any special effort to take part; they just need to carry on using the app as before to record and identify birdsong.

I love the idea that I will be one of a new wave of citizen scientists across the world, with the recordings I make playing a small part in monitoring bird populations. And the surge in recording data will likely further improve the app's performance.

Right, I'm off out with my phone, I hear the birds calling...

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 #1624) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1624) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1624) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1624) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1624, are…

• TRAWL
• SPICE
• PIANO
• SHARK

This game worked out very well for me, although that was largely due to a quartet of pretty straightforward words.

TRAWL was my only moment of doubt but felt right as I slowly tapped the letters out.

Daily Sequence today (game #1624) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1624, are…

• BLEAK
• COVET
• GREED
• DROOP

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE

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

NYT Strands today (game #855) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• GRUMP
• ROLE
• DRIP
• HIVE
• MORE
• FLUE
• BIRD

NYT Strands today (game #855) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #855) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #855) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #855, are…

• BLOOM
• EXPAND
• SPREAD
• FLOURISH
• THRIVE
• BURGEON
• SPANGRAM: SUMMERTIME

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Sometimes Strands themes can be head scratchers, other times they are just plain clever and today's theme falls into that latter category.

With the word “season” in mind I quickly found SUMMERTIME thanks to the hard-to-miss double M, although the corkscrew connections provided a little challenge.

Beyond this there were a couple of tricky words — I wouldn’t have seen BURGEON had it not been for the fact that it was sandwiched by THRIVE and the spangram.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, July 5, game #854)

• POINTER
• SPANIEL
• TERRIER
• HOUND
• RETREIVER
• SPANGRAM: HUNTINGBREEDS

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 #1623) — hint #1 — Vowels

* 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 #1623) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1623) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1623) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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 #1623) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1623) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1623, are…

• PINEY
• SWOON
• TITLE
• PINTO

Today felt like a Greatest Hits of Quordle game, with two very familiar words in PINTO and PINEY making their third appearances of 2026.

Meanwhile, it was nice to see SWOON. It’s one of my favorite words — the sound is nice, the meaning is great, and for a bonus it’s also the title of an excellent album by Prefab Sprout.

Daily Sequence today (game #1623) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1623, are…

• REBEL
• LEANT
• DEBUT
• BRASS

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE
• Quordle #1603, Monday, 15 June: GAUNT, SNEAK, ROUTE, POKER

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

NYT Strands today (game #854) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• POLITE
• SPRITE
• LIVER
• HUNGER
• TINGE
• SPEEDING

NYT Strands today (game #854) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #854) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #854) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #854, are…

• POINTER
• SPANIEL
• TERRIER
• HOUND
• RETREIVER
• SPANGRAM: HUNTINGBREEDS

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

My immediate thought was that the theme had to have something to do with dogs, but I was wary, of course, of falling into a trap and barking up the wrong tree.

After spotting POINTER it seemed clear that we were looking for dog breeds, but my canine knowledge was not good enough to know that we were searching out HUNTINGBREEDS until after I had connected SPANIEL and TERRIER and then the spangram.

Beyond the game itself there was also an interesting crop of lengthy non-game words. It’s rare that I’ll find many over five-letters long but today the board was loaded with them.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, July 4, game #853)

• BRIGHT
• COLORFUL
• DAZZLING
• EXCITING
• SPARKLING
• SPANGRAM: FIREWORKS

• Google Maps may soon let you order food inside the app
• It could work as an extension of the Ask Maps feature
• Right now it's not clear how it would rival apps like Uber Eats

Google Maps may soon offer you the option of ordering food from a restaurant ready to pick up, as well as directing you to that restaurant on the map, according to hidden code found inside the latest version of Google Maps for Android.

The code was found by the team at Android Authority, and includes text strings such as "ask Maps to order food", "say what you're craving", and "Maps will order for you — even while you're on the go".

This feature isn't live yet, so it's difficult to say exactly how it would work, but it certainly looks as though you would be able to quickly request something on the menu at a restaurant and then pick it up yourself.

Presumably there might be the option to dine in, or to have your food delivered to you if you weren't traveling — so maybe this will work in partnership with apps such as DoorDash and Uber Eats rather than replacing them.

AI working for you

The 'Ask Maps' feature referred to in the code leak is the recently introduced Gemini-powered tool that lets you have a natural conversation with Google Maps about anything you've found or are looking for.

It appears that this same part of the interface is where the food ordering will be placed as well, using Gemini's agentic capabilities to take action for you — though as Android Authority points out, it's not clear just how much autonomy the AI would have.

It might even be restricted to certain phones, like the Magic Cue feature that's currently exclusive to the Pixel 10 series. However, it seems more likely that Google would want to make this as widely available as possible.

We'll have to wait and see how this works, if it does make it to the app at all. The next big announcements from Google should come along with the Pixel 11 launch, which is expected sometime in August.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,400 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 #1622) - hint #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1622) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1622) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1622) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

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 #1622) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1622) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1622, are…

• ARGUE
• MOTEL
• OPERA
• TRUCE

I found ARGUE the hardest word to get today.

U-E is a reasonably common ending, but for some reason I struggled to think of any also containing an R. I got there in the end, though.

Daily Sequence today (game #1622) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1622, are…

• VITAL
• JOINT
• HELLO
• BILGE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE
• Quordle #1603, Monday, 15 June: GAUNT, SNEAK, ROUTE, POKER

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

NYT Strands today (game #853) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SING
• LURK
• FOUR
• RAIL
• PAIR
• DARE

NYT Strands today (game #853) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #853) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #853) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #853, are…

• BRIGHT
• COLORFUL
• DAZZLING
• EXCITING
• SPARKLING
• SPANGRAM: FIREWORKS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Talk about a theme that could mean absolutely anything at all.

Totally in the dark, not an entirely unusual feeling to be truthful, I worked my way around the board in search of non-game words to earn a hint. Instead, I saw the spangram FIREWORKS and remembered today’s date.

I went to a fireworks display recently that was underwhelming, in part due to the murky conditions but also because the drones that made up a large part of the display had to be viewed from a particular angle in order to impress; a case of “uh?” rather than “ooh!”. 

Meanwhile, it was nice to see a bit of color in Strands for a change. A rare treat.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 3, game #852)

• OBSTINATE
• STUBBORN
• WILLFUL
• FIRM
• HEADSTRONG
• SPANGRAM: NOTBUDGING

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,400 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 #1621) - hint #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1621) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1621) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1621) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

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 #1621) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1621) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1621, are…

• AVERT
• MOTOR
• MANIC
• WORDY

A close call for me today, with just one line left to guess AVERT.

Fortunately, having already used the letter “l” it didn’t require a leap of faith to employ the letter V.

Daily Sequence today (game #1621) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1621, are…

• VAPOR
• JEWEL
• LEECH
• AFIRE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE
• Quordle #1603, Monday, 15 June: GAUNT, SNEAK, ROUTE, POKER
• Quordle #1602, Sunday, 14 June: WIMPY, WISPY, VIRAL, NYLON

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

NYT Strands today (game #852) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• BOUT
• TURN
• BURL
• WILT
• BORN
• SING

NYT Strands today (game #852) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #852) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #852) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #852, are…

• OBSTINATE
• STUBBORN
• WILLFUL
• FIRM
• HEADSTRONG
• SPANGRAM: NOTBUDGING

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

“It’s like talking to a brick wall”. I know exactly what that feels like, thanks to growing up with a father to whom all of today’s words could apply — I’d add a few more, given the space.

Perhaps this is why I found the search an easy one, despite a couple of well-hidden words and a spangram that defied the normal top-to-bottom, side-to-side routine.

Far harder was searching the board afterwards for non-game words.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 2, game #851)

• BECHAMEL
• MARINARA
• SRIRACHA
• TERIYAKI
• TZATZIKI
• SPANGRAM: GETSAUCY

• There are reports of a WhatsApp username impersonation problems
• WhatsApp and Meta say popular names are reserved
• India wants to see the rollout of username reservations paused

WhatsApp is launching a username feature later this year, to enable you to add contacts without revealing your phone number — but while handle reservations have gone live for many users, there are reports that username impersonation is already an issue.

As per testing done by TechCrunch, usernames very similar to Indian politicians, celebrities, business figures, and public institutions are available. They include 'indiamodi' (for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) and 'shahrukh.actor' for Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

This focus on India is because authorities in the country have already asked WhatsApp to put a pause on username reservations. As per the BBC, the Indian government suggests that WhatsApp usernames could "increase cybercrimes" such as online fraud and phishing scams — already big concerns in the country.

The thinking is that usernames could allow scammers to operate without revealing their numbers (which may get picked up in blacklists). If those scammers are also impersonating well-known figures, then the problems are compounded.

Get in line

WhatsApp has seen this coming. When announcing the feature, it said that handles for well-known individuals would be reserved for those people — including usernames for politicians, VIPs, and other celebrities.

"People are making false claims about reserving popular or well-known usernames," says WhatsApp. "This isn't true, only the legitimate account owners are able to reserve well-known public-figure names." The same line was repeated by WhatsApp owner Meta when contacted by TechCrunch.

However, it's not clear how many variations of famous names and identities are covered by this block. It seems that with enough imagination, working alternatives can be found — though of course once you start dropping in different spellings, numbers, and extra words, the username impersonation becomes less convincing.

It's a challenge that all social platforms have to deal with, including the Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook. With WhatsApp though, the connection is more direct and the potential scams are more plausible — which may affect the feature's rollout worldwide.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,400 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 #1620) - hint #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1620) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1620) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1620) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

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 #1620) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1620) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1620, are…

• BULKY
• PARSE
• BELOW
• MOVIE

Despite there being five vowels, which usually indicates a difficult game, this was an easier game than usual.

Having two words beginning with the letter B helped, of course.

I only tripped up on one word — guessing “bully” instead of BULKY — with the others being immediately obvious.

Daily Sequence today (game #1620) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1620, are…

• CLING
• SWING
• FROZE
• CONIC

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE
• Quordle #1603, Monday, 15 June: GAUNT, SNEAK, ROUTE, POKER
• Quordle #1602, Sunday, 14 June: WIMPY, WISPY, VIRAL, NYLON
• Quordle #1601, Saturday, 13 June: DEALT, STEED, BELIE, GULLY

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

NYT Strands today (game #851) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• GREAT
• CARE
• RISKY
• CLEAT
• RICH
• TASK

NYT Strands today (game #851) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #851) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #851) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #851, are…

• BECHAMEL
• MARINARA
• SRIRACHA
• TERIYAKI
• TZATZIKI
• SPANGRAM: GETSAUCY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 hints

Added flavor? Surely that can only mean herbs and spices?

Oh, how wrong I was. So, after wasting time looking for oregano, basil and thyme and finding numerous non-game words, I took a hint to get started, with BECHAMEL putting me on to the task of finding sauces.

Even though I now knew the task at hand this continued to be a really difficult game — mainly because the names of any other possible sauces suddenly vanished from my head, but also because every game word today was long and complicated.

So, yes it took me another hint to complete. Congratulations if you completed it without any.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 1, game #850)

• HINT
• INDICATION
• CLUE
• EVIDENCE
• INTIMATION
• SPANGRAM: TELLTALESIGN

• Apple charges 15-30% extra for in-app purchases and subscription fees like YouTube Premium
• This has become known as the 'Apple tax'
• Third-party developers have been protesting this, mainly Fortnite founder Epic Games

Apple’s App Store is a one-stop shop for all your needs. It’s made subscribing to third-party services a lot easier, and you can manage your memberships all from one place right there on your iPhone. That said, subscribing to platforms through Apple comes with a small but pricey catch.

If you’ve subscribed to the best streaming services such as YouTube Premium through the App Store, you might not know that this could cost you a lot more than if you were to sign up through YouTube itself — and it’s all down to App Store fees.

For example, if you were to sign up to YouTube Premium’s standard tier via its website, it would cost $15.99/ £12.99/ AU$22.99 a month, but if you signed up through the App Store, that monthly price becomes slightly more expensive ($20.99/ £16.99/ AU$23.99).

So, if you’ve started to wonder why your YouTube Premium subscription fee has skyrocketed in comparison to your Netflix and Disney+ memberships, this could be the reason. But why is the margin a lot higher for purchasing directly through Apple’s App Store?

Two words; Apple tax

Apple doesn’t just make bank from selling its extensive range of smartphones, laptops, and other devices; its App Store has created another source of revenue for the tech giant, which is now often referred to as the ‘Apple tax’.

Since Apple charges developers to implement alternative payment systems that aren't Apple Pay, these developers will bump up monthly subscription costs by roughly 15-30%, charging you more per month for simply subscribing to platforms via the App Store in order to avoid paying this fee. It doesn’t just apply to monthly subscriptions; Apple applies this tax to most of its digital goods and in-app purchases.

Now, Apple has been doing this pretty much since the App Store launched on iPhone some 18 years ago, resulting in a protest to this tax — mainly by Fornite-founding company Epic Games.

Back in 2020, Epic Games started its protest against Apple’s App Store fees by implementing its own direct payment system in iOS. As a result, Apple booted Epic’s developer accounts and removed Fortnite, but it didn’t end there.

Epic Games retaliated with a claim of its own, arguing Apple decided to remove Epic's developer accounts because it saw Epic Games as a threat to its ecosystem. Fortnite was then listed back on the App Store following a five-year absence, but the dispute is still very much unresolved. As it stands, the US Supreme Court has decided to hear Apple’s appeal of contempt in the ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games. This will begin in the Supreme Court’s next term, which starts in October.

For most of you who are literate with the ways of Apple, its App Store fees probably won’t come as a big shock to you, but for the average user who relies on their Apple device to make digital purchasing more convenient, they might not be as aware of the catch and are still being blindsided by the Apple Tax.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,400 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 #1619) - hint #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1619) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1619) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1619) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

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 #1619) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1619) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1619, are…

• EASEL
• OTTER
• LYRIC
• SHACK

SHACK and LYRIC came easily enough today, but both EASEL and OTTER took me a while to find.

With EASEL, I tried every available letter with A-S-E-L before using the letter E again. Sometimes the simplest solution is the hardest to see.

Daily Sequence today (game #1619) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1619, are…

• SORRY
• EXTOL
• QUEUE
• BUTTE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE
• Quordle #1603, Monday, 15 June: GAUNT, SNEAK, ROUTE, POKER
• Quordle #1602, Sunday, 14 June: WIMPY, WISPY, VIRAL, NYLON
• Quordle #1601, Saturday, 13 June: DEALT, STEED, BELIE, GULLY
• Quordle #1600, Friday, 12 June: TENTH, SHOAL, JELLY, UNIFY

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

NYT Strands today (game #850) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• NATION
• CHILD
• MINT
• DEEM
• CLOUT
• MEET

NYT Strands today (game #850) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #850) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #850) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #850, are…

• HINT
• INDICATION
• CLUE
• EVIDENCE
• INTIMATION
• SPANGRAM: TELLTALESIGN

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

I went around this board at a pace Mrs Marple would be impressed by until I reached the dastardly last word. I just could not see INTIMATION at all and it took me a few minutes before I finally linked the letters in the right order.

Fortunately, the theme was no mystery and thinking about red herrings I found TELLTALESIGN before any game or non-game words.

Meanwhile, I had to chuckle when the first word I got was HINT — frequently this is something I need to get going on Wednesday, but not today!

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, June 30, game #849)

• WRITER
• DIRECTOR
• CAST
• PRODUCER
• CREW
• EDITOR
• SPANGRAM: THATSSHOWBIZ

• WhatsApp username reservations are now open for some
• Check inside the app for your reservation invite
• You can link your new handle to Facebook and Instagram

The big WhatsApp username revolution has started — and while usernames won't fully take over until later this year, Meta is letting people reserve their handles starting from now. Open up WhatsApp on your phone, and you'll see an alert above the conversation list inviting you to reserve your name.

Earlier today I got the alert on my phone (maybe because I'm such an enthusiastic WhatsApp user). If you miss tapping the notification before it disappears, you need to head to Settings: On Android, it's the three dots (top right) then Settings; on iOS, tap the You icon (bottom right) to get to the same menu.

From Settings, select Account > Username > Create username to start selecting your WhatsApp handle. It's worth remembering you're up against three billion other users here, so your first choice might be gone — in which case WhatsApp will ask you to pick something else until you land on something unique.

You may have to deploy some numbers or special characters to get a username that hasn't already been taken — the same tricks you may well have used to get your handles on other platforms (for example, using underscores and periods). There's also a Suggest username option here you can use if you're stuck, and WhatsApp will come up with a few ideas for you.

You can also link an existing username from Instagram or Facebook, which is helpful if you've got a small business or side hustle set up on those platforms and want to be consistent in every app. Just follow the Use Instagram username or Use Facebook username links when you see them.

What you need to know

There are a few things to bear in mind when reserving your username. Firstly, this won't hide your phone number from people who already have it on WhatsApp — it only applies to new contacts you add after the username feature goes live, and it seems as though that won't happen for a few months yet.

Second, if you think that someone might guess or otherwise stumble across your username, you can add an extra layer of protection. From Account > Username, tap Contact me by username and you can generate a key code — a prospective new contact will then need to be told both this key and your username in order to connect with you.

If you have a change of heart (or identity) then you can still change your username before the feature goes live: open up Account > Username then tap Edit to pick something different. At the moment, it's not clear how username changes will be handled once the feature goes live later this year.

Fourth, you'll be wasting your time if you try and reserve something like @zendaya or @edsheeran. WhatsApp says it's fenced off usernames that relate to celebrities, politicians, and other VIPs, so you're not going to be able to use this as an opportunity to impersonate someone famous.

Finally, if you do register the same handle as you've got on Facebook or Instagram, Meta will ask you to connect your accounts. That makes them a little easier to manage together, but it also gives Meta more information about you, your devices, and your activities — which may be used for targeted ads in the future.

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

NYT Strands today (game #849) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SHOWER
• CORD
• DROP
• WASTE
• PASTOR
• CRIED

NYT Strands today (game #849) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #849) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #849) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #849, are…

• WRITER
• DIRECTOR
• CAST
• PRODUCER
• CREW
• EDITOR
• SPANGRAM: THATSSHOWBIZ

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

There was no mystery about today’s search, although I was expecting to find Lights and Camera in the game somewhere.

Instead, the game ended up being a broader take, with THATSSHOWBIZ covering both stage and screen (both small and large) and the various roles that make up a production.

We could have added “audience” I suppose, as without that there is little point — although I know from a relation who works in a movie theater that even if no one turns up they still play the film the same as if it was a full house, as they are all set by a program at the start of each day.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, June 29, game #848)

• CLEFT
• REST
• NOTE
• BRACKET
• MEASURE
• ACCIDENTAL
• SPANGRAM: MUSICALSTAFF

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,400 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 #1618) - hint #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1618) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1618) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1618) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

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 #1618) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1618) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1618, are…

• HALVE
• DRYER
• THERE
• MINTY

I played this game without my glasses, which added a new dimension of difficulty.

The first error this caused was my using the word “ducky” instead of my starter word “duchy” and the second was missing the letter H and wasting a guess before getting HALVE.

Somehow, I managed to keep my winning streak going.

Daily Sequence today (game #1618) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1618, are…

• VIVID
• CYCLE
• CHUNK
• PLATE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE
• Quordle #1603, Monday, 15 June: GAUNT, SNEAK, ROUTE, POKER
• Quordle #1602, Sunday, 14 June: WIMPY, WISPY, VIRAL, NYLON
• Quordle #1601, Saturday, 13 June: DEALT, STEED, BELIE, GULLY
• Quordle #1600, Friday, 12 June: TENTH, SHOAL, JELLY, UNIFY
• Quordle #1599, Thursday, 11 June: GAMMA, SPILL, SALVE, RURAL

• Russian Intelligence are targeting Signal accounts of officials based in Ukraine
• They pose as Signal support services and ask users to submit their Backup Recovery Keys
• Using these keys, the hackers can hijack the users account and any other accounts created using the same mobile phone number

The FBI has warned Russian Intelligence Services are posing as commercial messaging application support services in order to steal Backup Recovery Keys belonging to targets of high value in the military and government of the US, Europe, and Ukraine.

In a joint warning alongside the CISA and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), the FBI outlined the new phishing campaign which seeks to access messaging accounts in order to perform intelligence gathering of secret information.

Specifically, the FBI provided sample phishing lures targeting users of the Signal messaging app. If the hackers successfully lure a victim into sharing their Backup Recovery Key, they can access the account's message history, private and group messages, and fully take over the victim's account.

Russian Intelligence pose as Signal support services

In the FBI warning, the phishing techniques are further detailed. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) are targeting government officials, military personnel, political figures, journalists, and key officials from the US and Europe located in Ukraine.

The attackers send emails that appear to be automated messages from Signal, asking users to turn on their message backup using their Backup Recovery Key. Victims are provided with false instructions that instead send the Backup Recovery Key to the attacker, who can then use the key to take over the victim’s account.

In order to establish urgency and trust that the message is legitimate, the attackers posed the phishing message as a protection against recent hacking attempts from “Iran and post-Soviet countries.” In another sample message, the attacker's message says that the victim’s account data “is at risk of permanent loss due to a sync issue.”

If a victim shares their unique Backup Recovery Key, it allows the attacker to hijack their current Signal account alongside any subsequent accounts made with the same phone number.

For users who may fear their Backup Recovery Key has been compromised, users are instructed to use Signal settings to create a new Backup Recovery Key. This new key will invalidate all previous Backup Recovery Keys and prevent account takeover if the previous key was leaked.

In order to avoid falling victim to phishing messages, there are several ways to stay safe:

• Support services will generally only communicate with users via an official company email address. Always carefully check communications from the legitimate email address.
• Customer support will never request that you supply your Backup Recovery Key via the application
• You will never be asked to verify or restore your account via an automated customer support message

In order to further protect your Signal account, or other accounts, against phishing, users should consider the following:

• Use a passkey wherever possible. This will use your device’s built in biometric verification methods to authenticate your login.
• Use phishing resistant multi-factor authentication where possible
• Always double check messages and emails are legitimate, and are using an official company email
• Never supply your Backup Recovery Keys unless you are actively attempting to regain access to your account via a legitimate service

• Tens of millions of credentials may have been leaked following an attack on one of Japan's largest ISPs
• The attack leveraged a vulnerability in a third-party software used by KDDI
• Five other ISPs were also affected in the attack

A data breach that has potentially exposed the email and password combinations for over 14 million customers across six internet service providers (ISPs) has been disclosed by Japanese telecoms provider KDDI Corporation.

According to the company, hackers exploited a vulnerability in a third-party software to access the database of credentials. KDDI said that it immediately blocked the hackers' access after discovering the intrusion on June 17, 2026.

“Although technical defensive measures have already been implemented for the system, there remains a possibility that customers' email addresses and passwords were obtained by unauthorized third parties as a result of the incident,” the company said in a statement.

Millions of credentials exposed

Unfortunately, the breach was not confined to just KDDI. The email services of five other ISPs were also affected by the breach:

• STNet, Inc.
• JCOM Co., Ltd.
• Chubu Telecommunications C., Inc.
• NIFTY Corporation
• BIGLOBE Inc.

KDDI is yet to finish a formal investigation into the attack, but said that the hacker may have gained access to the emails addresses and passwords for 14.22 million current and former customers. The company also said that some of the passwords were stored in an encrypted format, and so will be inaccessible for the hackers, but the company did not say how many were stored in this manner.

Since discovering the breach, KDDI has also been working alongside the affected ISPs to secure systems and put in place mitigation measures to counter the abuse of exposed account credentials.

In order to stay protected, customers have been advised to change their account passwords and implement two-factor authentication.

Breaches such as these are particularly dangerous because they expose email and password combinations. As most people will have either one or two email addresses across their accounts, it increases the likelihood that hackers can attempt to use the exposed email and password combinations to try and access other accounts created with the same email.

This is especially true if the same password (or a variant thereof) is used across multiple accounts. Hackers can use brute force techniques to try hundreds of password combinations in a very short amount of time in order to crack weak or reused passwords.

When creating or updating a password for any account, no matter how infrequently it is used, always create a strong unique password. Password managers can create and suggest strong passwords, securely store them, and automatically fill login forms to take the hassle out of remembering passwords.

Alternatively, some services offer the ability to login using a passkey, which utilizes the built-in biometric authentication mechanisms of your device such as a facial scan or fingerprint. These login methods not only remove the need to type in passwords, but also reduce the possibility of hackers accessing your account through phishing attacks.

Via BleepingComputer

Like a vestige of a bygone era, my Hotmail email address still exists and works, even if the domain resolves to Microsoft's far less sexy Outlook online mail system. The continued utility of my Hotmail email address is a reminder that, 30 years after its launch, Hotmail played a valuable role in the early days of the Internet, even if its current existence is ephemeral at best.

It's easy to forget that Hotmail, which was founded by a former Apple Engineer, Sabeer Bhatia, and FirePower Systems engineer, Jack Smith, was the first free online email provider and was something of a sensation (the name was then quite apt). Also lost to history is its somewhat peripatetic journey from a platform used by millions (at its height around 130M) to a service that was deplatformed, derided, revived, and eventually abandoned.

Back in 1996, I was an editor at PC Magazine, then the world's most popular computing magazine, and I vaguely recall hearing about Hotmail and signing up for it. Microsoft, ever on the hunt for technology and companies that could fill its substantial online gaps (it licensed Spyglass Mosaic browser code to build Internet Explorer in 1994), purchased Hotmail in late 1996. Bhatia stuck around to run the platform for a year or two, and Smith appears to have left shortly after the acquisition.

Suddenly, 9 million or so early adopters were being quickly integrated into the burgeoning Microsoft ecosystem, with the Microsoft Network (MSN) in particular. To this day, my Hotmail address is tied to my Windows identity.

Hot until it's not

It was a good enough email system that I put my wife on it more than 20 years ago, but in 2006 or so, Microsoft, perhaps feeling the threat of the exploding Google Gmail userbase (launching in 2004, it was free and, at the time, with unlimited storage), decided to rebrand most of its services udner "Live" and the Hotmail service and domain was effectively retired.

But not dead. Our Hotmail address continued to work, but we were opening Windows Live inboxes instead. I hated it and teased Microsoft that if they thought Windows is "live" now, was it dead before?

I also wasn't thrilled that Microsoft had "put a pillow over Hotmail's face". It was a service I loved and used and served as the centerpiece for not just Microsoft's services, but other platforms where it was my login identity. The switch to a "@live.com" email address was just confusing.

In fact, Microsoft's entire email corpus at the time was a hot mess. We had Outlook addresses, Live addresses, Hotmail Addresses, MSN addresses. At one time, I may have had all of them.

A few years later, Microsoft reversed course, revived the Hotmail brand, and gave me the lovely cup you see above. All was forgiven, but, to be honest, by then I had moved on. My Hotmail email account became a resting place for forgotten and discarded subscriptions, as well as quite a few reminders about people's birthdays.

Don't email me

Hotmail as an email platform never really recovered, and eventually, Microsoft moved to put everyone on the Outlook email brand, which was almost as old as Hotmail and used, though not always loved, by millions of people who also use Microsoft Office.

My Hotmail account remains active to access Windows (though I mostly log in with biometrics or PIN codes now) and to access Outlook mail, where I can find emails going back 26 years (not as interesting as you might think).

The truth is, though, while that email account will probably live on, the most concrete reminder that Hotmail was once a thing (much like your old AOL email was once a thing) is that orange coffee cup.