Technology

The economy is volatile. CDs are not.

The looming End of Life (EoL) deadlines for several Microsoft applications and systems are fast approaching – and it’s clear they’re playing on many organizations' minds.

We’ve seen a sharp increase in enquiries from large organizations seeking guidance on Microsoft Teams and legacy technology upgrades, particularly in the last month. This upturn in activity highlights an urgency felt by these businesses to address their legacy applications and operating systems scheduled to reach their official EoL in 2025.

With classic Microsoft Teams set to be phased out by July this year and major Microsoft products like Windows 10, Office 2019, and Exchange Server 2019 all reaching end-of-support by October – now just six months away – businesses face critical decisions to avoid operational, security, and compliance risks.

But this rush to tackle EoL also comes from a mindset of what it supposedly represents – high-risk, outdated technology that requires an immediate upgrade. While risks need dealing with, the truth of the matter is this isn’t a one off event. As one product is upgraded, another will approach its EoL. It’s something we have to live with.

Instead, businesses should view EoL management as an ongoing activity. And sometimes maintaining EoL systems is the best approach – they just need to be turned into a compliant and safe form.

Changing EoL mindsets

The potential impact of Windows end of support on a number of industries will be significant – and organizations are facing a pivotal transition. Left unchecked, the disruptions associated with unmanaged and outdated systems will be major.

Back in February 2020, TechRadar revealed that approximately one third of NHS computers were still operating on Windows 7, despite the government's target to upgrade all PCs to Windows 10 by January 2020. They ended up using Microsoft’s extended support period to complete the process by 2021 – and they now face the upcoming deadline to upgrade Windows 10 by October.

Consequently, with end of support deadlines imminent, there can be a feeling amongst organizations that they need to overhaul their applications and systems to work on modern infrastructure (through complex refactoring or recoding, for example) or integrate a whole new application suite. The issue is these applications are business critical and any disruption could represent a severe risk to operations.

This is where a mindset change needs to take place. Rather than attempting to significantly alter the applications themselves, it’s all about modernizing the IT estate, adopting an approach that can seamlessly migrate these software applications across different environments and onto supported operating systems.

This means companies can keep their legacy Windows 10 applications, for example, but secure their compatibility by moving them onto a supported Windows server or cloud environment. It’s akin to having the rug pulled from beneath your feet but you still remain standing in the same position – just now on new ground.

So, whether applications are located on on-premise servers or moved onto the cloud, this means they can continue to receive support and software updates. This strategy extends to cloud providers, who are crucial in meeting the increasing reliance on cloud technologies, as they change data centers.

The goal of this approach is to give companies freedom and flexibility to migrate or extend the life of critical applications smoothly and securely. The compulsory activity, however, is that something has to be done before their end of support to secure and manage them effectively. Otherwise, they will become high-risk.

Supporting out-of-support applications

When you look at the numbers on Statcounter, it’s easy to see why companies are actively seeking guidance.

In the UK, as of January 2025, there was an exact split in the market share of Windows desktop versions between Windows 10 and Windows 11, with both sitting at 49.4%. That means half of all desktops are approaching their EoL. And due to the complexity of migrating a business’ IT infrastructure as opposed to personal use, this percentage is likely to be weighted even more to Windows 10 with large organizations.

Responding to these concerns and the increase in demand and enquiries, dedicated EoL hotlines have been set up, helping companies to receive quick, tailored guidance on preparing for EoL transitions. This includes how to migrate existing applications like the Microsoft 365 products edging towards their EoL and secure their compatibility.

Crucially, the process of moving existing out-of-support applications onto managed and supported servers causes very minimal disruption to operations. The task of doing this transition, however, can be complex to perform. Therefore, if companies have the internal resources, expertise and guidance, then it’s possible to perform such an undertaking internally.

The ‘R approach’ is an industry standard process used by cloud providers. It involves six different methods to assess a company's IT estate and then carry out migrations for EoL software. ‘Rehosting’, for example, involves moving applications to the cloud without making significant changes, whereas ‘retiring’ involves identifying applications that are no longer useful and can be turned off. Each R can play its role for different contexts.

But if a company’s requirements are bespoke or too complicated to be performed by such methods, then joining up with an external specialist/partner presents a more efficient, effective and cost-effective way of approaching such a pivotal undertaking.

Keeping Windows EoL front of mind

With several end of support deadlines looming for Microsoft products in 2025, organizations are feeling compelled to understand how they can quickly and securely upgrade their Microsoft Teams and legacy applications.

But with the risks of not doing this playing on their mind, there can be a tendency to conduct expensive upgrades and overhaul entire application suites – a process that could cause significant disruption and risk itself.

However, rather than changing out-of-support applications themselves, companies can look to migrate them into secure and managed operating environments, both on-premises and in the cloud. With many desktops in the market still operating on Windows 10, this presents an approach that can keep operations ticking over while apps are migrated into these environments.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean embracing EoL software as it is. If it’s left unmanaged or on unsupported software it becomes an inherent risk. But it’s a call to change mindsets over how EoL is viewed and understanding that the applications themselves don’t have to be the problem.

Migration strategies like the R process give companies the ability to assess their IT estate and make the necessary changes. But for those that don't fit the mold, they can seek out companies which can help in those cases.

Moving away from EoL is a journey and, for most companies, it will be phased due to how these older legacy applications work. Much like DOGE you can't just rip out legacy systems and hope everything will work with new systems unless you plan it!

The support is there to achieve such a transition. Organizations just need to make sure they keep the EoL deadlines and challenges of their applications front of mind before it’s too late.

Link!

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• This laptop is branded xCaim, ClinkX and ClinkCaim
• Eliminates the touchpad, introducing a fully interactive palm rest
• Supports an edge-to-edge keyboard as well as an integrated status bar for call display

A relatively unknown Chinese company, Emdoor Digital Technology, has introduced a prototype business laptop with an unconventional design, earning the prestigious iF Design Award for 2025.

The xCaim laptop immediately stands out with its edge-to-edge keyboard, eliminating the traditional palm rest area and replacing the conventional touchpad with a fully interactive palm rest surface with tactile buttons.

The xCaim laptop will feature a Samsung V-NAND SSD 980, available in capacities ranging from 250GB to 1TB, suggesting it could be a suitable laptop for programming.

A bold rethinking of laptop design

Like the Honor MagicBook Art 14 (2024), the xCaim laptop comes with a modular business webcam that attaches magnetically above the screen, integrates real-time environmental sensing, and can serve as a secondary screen when detached, displaying shortcuts and notifications.

The xCaim laptop adopts a sleek and modern design with a white and black color scheme, and thin bezels. It features a regular hinge design and a chiclet-style keyboard. The function keys are replaced with a touch-sensitive function area.

Just below the keyboard, a small horizontal display shows system status icons, call information, and a digital battery display. A removable bottom panel reveals dual cooling fans.

The laptop's connectivity options are minimal, with just three USB-C ports, two on the right side and one on the left.

The xCaim laptop is not commercially available yet, but it offers a glimpse into a future where business laptop designs break free from tradition, embracing new forms of interaction and AI tools integration.

The iF Design Award is often regarded as the "Oscars" of the design industry, and the 2025 edition of the competition saw nearly 11,000 entries from 66 countries, with 131 jurors from 23 countries selecting the most outstanding designs.

Via iFDesign

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Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 182, for March 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 24.

• Compal Infinite Laptop offers a horizontally expanding screen, from 14-inch to 18-inch
• Rollable business laptops could emerge as the future of multitasking
• Infinite Laptop also includes LED notification grids

The world's first rollable laptop, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, was unveiled at CES 2025 after years of development, featuring a 14-inch display which expands vertically to 16.7 inches with the press of a button.

While Lenovo’s approach focuses on increasing vertical space, Taiwanese manufacturer Compal's Infinite Laptop concept (via iFDesign) expands horizontally to create an ultrawide business laptop.

The Compal Infinite Laptop features a 14-inch display which extends from both sides to form an 18-inch screen, which could make it an ideal laptop for trading and multitasking.

A rollable screen designed for productivity

Compal’s Infinite Laptop is still a concept, but its bold design has already earned an iF Design Award.

This rollable mechanism ensures a seamless transition between compact and expanded modes while maintaining a lightweight build.

Similar to the ClinkCaim laptop, another 2025 iF Design Award-winning concept, the Infinite Laptop lacks a distinct touchpad.

Instead, a dimly glowing light indicates the touchpad area, which could make it a more intuitive laptop for programming.

The laptop appears to feature an LED notification array embedded in its lid for system alerts and notifications.

The laptop’s expansion mechanism looks impressive, and it's certainly made waves —the 2025 iF Design Awards featured nearly 11,000 entries from 66 countries, with 131 jurors selecting the most innovative designs, solidifying the Compal Infinite Laptop’s place among groundbreaking concepts.

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• Silicon Motion 128TB SSD RDK optimizes AI pipelines with enhanced data management
• PerformaShape technology boosts SSD efficiency for AI-driven workloads
• MonTitan SSD’s PCIe Gen 5 speeds enhance enterprise data throughput

Silicon Motion, a leading NAND flash controller designer, has begun supplying its 128TB SSD Reference Design Kit (RDK), to select partners after nearly three years of testing since its initial announcement in 2022.

This large SSD kit, utilizes the latest 2 TB die QLC NAND, is built on the MonTitan PCIe Gen 5 platform, and features advanced firmware to maximize performance and efficiency in AI tool workloads, making it one of the best external SSD designs available.

The MonTitan RDK, designed for enterprise and data center use, delivers sequential read speeds exceeding 14 GB/s, ranking among the fastest external SSDs, with random read performance of over 3.3 million IOPS for efficient data thoroughput. The kit utilizes the PCIe Dual Ported enterprise-grade SM8366 controller with support for PCIe Gen 5 x4 NVMe 2.0 and OCP 2.5 data center specifications.

High-speed storage that could shake up the enterprise market

The RDK's high-speed performance provides a 25% improvement in random read efficiency over other Gen 5 solutions, making it particularly well-suited for AI applications such as large language model (LLM) training and graph neural network (GNN) computations.

Additionally, the drive design utilizes NVMe 2.0 FDP (Flexible Data Placement) to enhance write efficiency and endurance, extending the lifespan of the QLC NAND.

"Silicon Motion's MonTitan SSD RDK offers a comprehensive solution for our customers, enabling them to rapidly develop and deploy enterprise-class SSDs tailored for AI data center and edge server applications." said Alex Chou, Senior VP of Enterprise Storage and Display Interface Solution Business.

"By providing this fully integrated platform that supports up to 128 TB SSD with QLC NAND, we empower our customers and solution partners to accelerate the development and commercialization of AI solution's growing demands of high-capacity, high-performance storage."

Silicon Motion’s proprietary PerformaShape technology optimizes SSD performance based on user-defined quality-of-service (QoS) parameters, reducing latency. The new RDK could play a crucial role in AI storage and data center infrastructure, optimizing multi-tenant environments by efficiently handling AI data pipeline stages such as ingestion, preparation, training, and inference.

"We are delighted to collaborate with Silicon Motion in developing our latest enterprise SSD for AI servers and data centers. With Silicon Motion's MonTitan Enterprise SSD development platform, we have the flexibility to design enterprise SSDs that deliver industry-leading performance," said CC Wu, VP of Innodisk.

Frank Chen, the CEO of Exascend said, "In the era of AI explosion, data storage is more critical than ever. Through this collaboration with Silicon Motion, we have developed a PCIe Gen 5 SSD tailored for AI servers, ensuring stable read and write speeds with efficient data management, perfectly meeting the storage demands of the AI era."

Via TechPowerUp

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Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle No. 1,374 for March 24.

• Toshiba's new European HDD Innovation Lab can improve storage tech
• Lab offers architecture testing, proof-of-concept setups, and benchmarking
• Toshiba claims combining dozens of HDDs can boost overall performance

Toshiba Electronics Europe has opened a new HDD Innovation Lab at its Düsseldorf site, expanding its storage evaluation services across Europe and the Middle East.

The new facility (it already has a smaller one in Dubai) is designed to support customers and partners in optimizing hard disk drive configurations for a range of applications, including cloud storage, surveillance systems, and NAS environments.

Toshiba’s lab will focus on assessing HDD setups for broader IT systems such as storage area networks (SAN), providing a space where hardware configurations can be tested and refined. It will be able to evaluate customer-specific architectures and offer a platform for proof-of-concept testing and performance benchmarking.

Combining hard drives

“This new HDD Innovation Lab represents a significant leap forward in providing bespoke solutions and advancing HDD technology,” said Rainer Kaese, senior manager for HDD business development.

“It demonstrates Toshiba’s commitment to drive the industry forward and support customers and partners with technical expertise and resources. We look forward to strengthening existing collaborations and exploring the future business opportunities the new facility will bring."

To carry out these evaluations, the lab brings together servers, JBoDs, chassis, controllers, cables, and a variety of software tools. It also includes equipment to accurately measure energy consumption.

While SSDs have a clear speed advantage over HDDs, they are expensive and, according to Kaese via Blocks & Files, “The flash industry is not be able to manufacture enough capacity to satisfy the growing demand, and still will not be for a significant while.”

The solution to that problem, Kaese suggested, is to bunch HDDS together.

“We have demonstrated that 60 HDDs in ZFS software defined storage can fill the entire speed of a 100GbE network,” he said, adding, “[We] found that a typical configuration of four HDDs (ie. in small Soho NAS) can fill the 10GbE networks. 12 HDDs match the 25GbE of Enterprise networks, and 60 HDDs would require high end 100GbE network speed to unleash the full performance of the many combined HDDs.”

Beyond technical testing, the HDD Innovation Lab aims to support knowledge sharing. Insights from evaluations will be passed directly to customers, and Toshiba says it will conduct its own internal assessments of its HDD product lines, publishing the findings as whitepapers and lab reports.

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Here are hints and answers for NYT Strands puzzle No. 386, for March 24.

Hints and answers for Connections for March 24, No. 652.

• Asus' new Ascent GX10 brings AI supercomputing power directly to developers
• Promises 1000 TOPS of AI processing and can handle models up to 200 billion parameters
• It's cheaper than Nvidia DGX Spark, with less storage but similar performance

AI development is getting ever more demanding, and Asus wants to bring high-performance computing straight to the desks of developers, researchers, and data scientists with the Ascent GX10, a compact AI supercomputer powered by Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell GB10 Superchip.

Asus’s rival to Nvidia’s DGX Spark (previously Project Digits) is designed to handle local AI workloads, making it easier to prototype, fine-tune, and run impressively large models without relying entirely on cloud or data center resources.

The Ascent GX10 comes with 128GB of unified memory, and the Blackwell GPU with fifth-generation Tensor Cores and FP4 precision support means it can deliver up to 1000 TOPS of AI processing power. It also includes a 20-core Grace Arm CPU, which speeds up data processing and orchestration for AI inferencing and model tuning. Asus says it will allow developers to work with AI models of up to 200 billion parameters without running into major bottlenecks.

Powerful yet compact

“AI is transforming every industry, and the Asus Ascent GX10 is designed to bring this transformative power to every developer’s fingertips,” said KuoWei Chao, General Manager of Asus IoT and NUC Business Group.

“By integrating the Nvidia Grace Blackwell Superchip, we are providing a powerful yet compact tool that enables developers, data scientists, and AI researchers to innovate and push the boundaries of AI right from their desks.”

Asus has built the GX10 with NVLink-C2C, which provides more than five times the bandwidth of PCIe 5.0, allowing the CPU and GPU to share memory efficiently, improving performance across AI workloads.

The system also comes with an integrated ConnectX network interface, so two GX10 units can be linked together to handle even larger models, such as Llama 3.1 with 405 billion parameters.

Asus says the Ascent GX10 will be available for pre-order in Q2 2025. Pricing details have not yet been confirmed by Asus, but Nvidia says it will cost $2999 and come with 1TB of storage.

In comparison, Nvidia’s own DGX Spark is a thousand dollars more ($3999) and comes with 4TB of storage.

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The upgraded Apple Watches could hit the market in the next two years, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

• A pair of Samsung smart specs are on the way
• They could launch before the end of 2025
• Samsung is also developing a bigger XR headset

We know that Samsung is busy working with Google on an Android XR (extended reality) headset known as Project Moohan, but it seems that some AR (augmented reality) smart specs are also in the pipeline – and could be launching before the end of the year.

A new report from South Korean outlet ET News (via @Jukanlosreve) suggests that these smart glasses are being developed under the codename Haean, and that features and specs are currently being finalized.

One of Samsung's priorities, according to the report, is on producing a design that fits every face shape and structure. Meanwhile, gesture support is said to be included with the specs, to reduce the number of buttons needed on the device itself.

There aren't any more details in this particular report, but it does say that the Samsung smart glasses could well be unveiled alongside the Android XR headset – which Samsung has told us much more about so far.

Specs and pricing

Report: Samsung Developing Smart Glasses Aimed for Year-End RevealAccording to reports from South Korean media, Samsung is currently developing smart glasses with a target of unveiling them by the end of the year. The company has launched a project codenamed “HAEAN” and is…March 23, 2025

After a few false starts – Google Glass, anyone? – it feels as though there's now some momentum behind the idea of smart glasses as a product, with the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses currently leading the way.

It would seem Samsung wants a part of this smart specs action with a product of its own. Rumors around such a device have been floating around for years at this point, with the name Samsung Glasses mentioned in a trademark filed in 2023.

These upcoming smart glasses are most likely going to be powered by a Qualcomm chip, and come with an integrated camera. We've seen rumors suggesting Samsung is aiming for an affordable price point, which would of course be welcome.

There had been suggestions that the specs would make an appearance alongside the Samsung Galaxy S25 at the Unpacked event in January. That obviously didn't happen, but it seems we will see them sometime in the next nine months.

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But the chances of someone being affected by this bug are relatively low.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, March 23 (game #1154).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 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 #1155) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

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

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1155) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1155) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1155) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

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 #1155) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• F

• S

• R

• S

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

Quordle today (game #1155) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1155, are…

• FLOUT
• SMASH
• RAZOR
• SMALL

Down to the wire today, as I struggled to get RAZOR before the final guess. In the end there was no other possible word, but I’m never confident using a rare letter.

Before my struggles, I made a great start with SMALL and SMASH but got unlucky guessing clout instead of FLOUT.

A close shave.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1155) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1155, are…

• RAPID
• CYNIC
• FLOAT
• DAILY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1154, Sunday 23 March: ALLEY, GAMUT, GEESE, RADII
• Quordle #1153, Saturday 22 March: PICKY, BRACE, BOOZE, SURLY
• Quordle #1152, Friday 21 March: DITTY, VALOR, TOWER, AMISS
• Quordle #1151, Thursday 20 March: RIPER, STILL, WAFER, NOTCH
• Quordle #1150, Wednesday 19 March: FLAME, CARAT, SPAWN, TUNIC
• Quordle #1149, Tuesday 18 March: NAVEL, TREAT, COPSE, SLINK
• Quordle #1148, Monday 17 March: INFER, FLINT, CHUMP, SHEER
• Quordle #1147, Sunday 16 March: INPUT, RUMBA, ELUDE, BLANK
• Quordle #1146, Saturday 15 March: SPEED, CLASH, RISKY, GRATE
• Quordle #1145, Friday 14 March: BELIE, SPEAR, GROWL, ADOBE
• Quordle #1144, Thursday 13 March: AMISS, METAL, TEARY, SHORT
• Quordle #1143, Wednesday 12 March: AWASH, PUSHY, RALPH, PROOF
• Quordle #1142, Tuesday 11 March: LINGO, JUICE, SHARP, REVEL
• Quordle #1141, Monday 10 March: AVAIL, THESE, TITAN, GAUGE
• Quordle #1140, Sunday 9 March: SKILL, IDEAL, WHERE, REHAB
• Quordle #1139, Saturday 8 March: WATCH, LAPSE, WREST, HEFTY
• Quordle #1138, Friday 7 March: GLEAN, SHINY, DECRY, MANGA
• Quordle #1137, Thursday 6 March: TRICE, EIGHT, BELCH, RIPER
• Quordle #1136, Wednesday 5 March: PLEAD, TWANG, MAJOR, RISKY
• Quordle #1135, Tuesday 4 March: FLOWN, ETUDE, TOPAZ, JOKER

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 23 (game #651).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #652) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• MATURE
• EARTH
• UNIFORM
• RANK
• LEVEL
• RIPE
• PHOTOSHOP
• EVERYONE
• HENHOUSE
• STABLE
• TEEN
• ONION
• FOUL
• ADULTS ONLY
• CONSTANT
• SOUR

NYT Connections today (game #652) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: It’s off
• GREEN: Stays the same 
• BLUE: Who can play 
• PURPLE: The common word is a synonym for sheets

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #652) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: BAD-SMELLING 
• GREEN: UNFLUCTUATING 
• BLUE: WHO VIDEO GAMES ARE FOR, PER ESRB RATINGS 
• PURPLE: THINGS WITH LAYERS 

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

NYT Connections today (game #652) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #652, are…

• YELLOW: BAD-SMELLING FOUL, RANK, RIPE, SOUR
• GREEN: UNFLUCTUATING CONSTANT, LEVEL, STABLE, UNIFORM
• BLUE: WHO VIDEO GAMES ARE FOR, PER ESRB RATINGS ADULTS ONLY, EVERYONE, MATURE, TEEN
• PURPLE: THINGS WITH LAYERS EARTH, HENHOUSE, ONION, PHOTOSHOP

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

I used up a Mistake today thinking MATURE, RIPE, SOUR, RANK described the shelf life of cheese, but I wasn’t far away from BAD-SMELLING – which, in the case of some cheeses, can be a good thing.

Next I thought that CONSTANT was the start of a group dealing with temperature before seeing the obvious link of UNFLUCTUATING. I dream of being unfluctuating.

Finally, there was a classic Connections joke in the final group, with HENHOUSE being one of the THINGS WITH LAYERS. If only I was sharp enough to see it before the end. The flaw of Connections is that you don’t need to ever get this final group, but for me at least that’s a constant blessing.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 23 March, game #651)

• YELLOW: CAPTIVATE ABSORB, ENTRANCE, GRAB, RIVET
• GREEN: THINGS WITH WINGS AIRPLANE, FAIRY, FLY, HOSPITAL
• BLUE: WORDS THAT MODIFY "WATCH" POCKET, SMART, STOP, WRIST
• PURPLE: WORDS REPEATED IN "MISS MARY MACK" BACK, BLACK, BUTTONS, MACK

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 23 (game #385).

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 #386) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Yes, Queen …

NYT Strands today (game #386) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• THINK
• DOLE
• HUGE
• CAGE
• HACK
• BANNED

NYT Strands today (game #386) - hint #3 - spangram letters How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #386) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: right, 4th row

Last side: left, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #386) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #386, are…

• EAGLES
• KISS
• RUSH
• GENESIS
• JOURNEY
• HEART
• BLONDIE
• SPANGRAM: ROCK BAND

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

In my past life as a music journalist I was paid to be a music snob. It’s not really a job that exists anymore, outside of Rolling Stone and a couple of niche magazines, as music publications and websites have discovered that you don’t have to pay people to be a music snob – they’ll do it for free.

Alas, despite no longer being paid to be one, I can’t help but deploy the arbitrary science of snobbery and still divide artists into two camps – cool and not cool.

From this list only BLONDIE make the cut, with EAGLES wavering between the two, but that’s just me – you might think top golfer Gene Simmons of KISS is cool or perhaps you’ve never stopped believing in JOURNEY (the puzzle compilers at NYT certainly haven’t).

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, 23 March, game #385)

• DARN
• KNIT
• CROCHET
• EMBROIDER
• MEND
• BASTE
• PATCH
• SPANGRAM: NEEDLEWORK

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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