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

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

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 #530) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• FANTASY
• TEAMS
• LOVE
• ATTENTION
• LENS
• EXPOSURE
• POSITION
• MEET
• ZOOM
• SHUTTER
• PRESS
• ANGLE
• TREASURE
• COVERAGE
• PERSPECTIVE
• SLACK

NYT Connections today (game #530) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Celebrities want this
• Green: How you look at things
• Blue: Is my camera on?
• Purple: Blank [body surrounded by water]

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 #530) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: PUBLICITY
• GREEN: POINT OF VIEW
• BLUE: WORK COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS
• PURPLE: “___ ISLAND”

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

NYT Connections today (game #530) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #530, are…

• YELLOW: PUBLICITY ATTENTION, COVERAGE, EXPOSURE, PRESS
• GREEN: POINT OF VIEW ANGLE, LENS, PERSPECTIVE, POSITION
• BLUE: WORK COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS MEET, SLACK, TEAMS, ZOOM
• PURPLE: “___ ISLAND” FANTASY, LOVE, SHUTTER, TREASURE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I came so close to scoring a reverse rainbow today, where you solve the puzzles from hard to easy, but sadly got blue before purple. However, the fact that I was so near reflects that even the supposedly tough groups today were rather simple.

That said, blue may not be such a cinch if you haven't been an office worker of some kind in the past few years. To those of us who have, MEET, SLACK, TEAMS and ZOOM are as familiar as our own names – hence why I solved it so quickly.

Purple was a piece of cake too. This was a 'blank' type, as they so often are, and the missing word on this occasion was ISLAND. With TREASURE, FANTASY, LOVE and SHUTTER as the solutions, there was nothing particularly difficult about it, certainly compared to yesterday's effort (which I failed). SHUTTER is probably the least obvious of them, but is my favorite of the quartet; it's a 2010 Martin Scorsese film.

Anyway, with the two supposedly tough ones done, it was even easier to complete green (POINT OF VIEW) and yellow (PUBLICITY) and get my streak going again.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 21 November, game #529)

• YELLOW: KINDS OF SHIRTS FLANNEL, OXFORD, POLO, TEE
• GREEN: SPHERES IN MILK TEA BOBA, BUBBLE, PEARL, TAPIOCA
• BLUE: MARINE INVERTEBRATES, FAMILIARLY CORAL, JELLY, SPONGE, STAR
• PURPLE: STARTS OF PASTA NAMES FETT, PENN, TORTE, ZIT

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.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

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 #1033) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

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

Quordle today (game #1033) - 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 #1033) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1033) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

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

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

Quordle today (game #1033) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• C

• A

• E

• S

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

Quordle today (game #1033) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1033, are…

• CUTIE
• ALOOF
• ETUDE
• SILLY

ETUDE is one of those words I don't think I've ever seen other than in Quordle. Every time it appears – which has been at least three now, I think, maybe more – I look up the definition then forget it. (It's something to do with musical notation, I think). But I do remember how to spell it, and that it's a word to be aware of.

If you're not familiar with it then it will most likely be the most difficult of today's quarters, although I'll also give a shout out to ALOOF, which has an F in an uncommon location and a repeated O to deal with. SALLY has a repeated L too, of course, and is one of several words that can fit the -ALLY format, along with TALLY, RALLY, PALLY and WALLY. So in summary: today's Quordle was a tricky one for sure!

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #1033) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1033, are…

• SMELT
• WHERE
• SALLY
• DIRTY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1032, Thursday 21 November: RABBI, EAGER, COUGH, BRASH
• Quordle #1031, Wednesday 20 November: MINTY, TOPAZ, BRUSH, LAPEL
• Quordle #1030, Tuesday 19 November: NINJA, PENCE, PAINT, FOIST
• Quordle #1029, Monday 18 November: ASCOT, BRINK, WEIRD, HOMER
• Quordle #1028, Sunday 17 November: STATE, BRAWN, SWORE, URBAN
• Quordle #1027, Saturday 16 November: NOTCH, BENCH, BUSED, FOUND
• Quordle #1026, Friday 15 November: PURER, TRUSS, TORCH, FORUM
• Quordle #1025, Thursday 14 November: EXALT, TASTE, CRONY, CLOUT
• Quordle #1024, Wednesday 13 November: YEARN, ELBOW, SURGE, PINEY
• Quordle #1023, Tuesday 12 November: CHORD, ATTIC, OLIVE, EIGHT
• Quordle #1022, Monday 11 November: COPSE, REGAL, GRUNT, GOODY
• Quordle #1021, Sunday 10 November: GROIN, FAULT, FERRY, SUITE
• Quordle #1020, Saturday 9 November: FLUME, THERE, ATOLL, SANER
• Quordle #1019, Friday 8 November: DELAY, NAVAL, MOLAR, SWARM
• Quordle #1018, Thursday 7 November: REPAY, SYNOD, LOATH, PITHY
• Quordle #1017, Wednesday 6 November: SASSY, DRUID, THREW, SLOSH
• Quordle #1016, Tuesday 5 November: BEGET, AMUSE, STONY, LOUSY
• Quordle #1015, Monday 4 November: CHILL, TACKY, GRAPH, PLAZA
• Quordle #1014, Sunday 3 November: QUIRK, HEART, ELBOW, KNOWN
• Quordle #1013, Saturday 2 November: SWUNG, FLOOR, PARER, CRUST

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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… This is the place!

NYT Strands today (game #264) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• VINE
• TRIM
• TIME
• MICE
• BONE
• PHONE

NYT Strands today (game #264) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Just look at a map

NYT Strands today (game #264) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: left, 5th row

Last: right, 4th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #264) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #264, are…

• BEND
• MOBILE
• BUFFALO
• RIVERSIDE
• PHOENIX
• BOULDER
• SPANGRAM: CITYNAME

• My rating: Stupid
• My score: 2 hints

There are approximately 10,000 cities in the world. There are at least a few hundred in the US alone, depending on how you define a city. And the task the NYT gave us today for Strands? Name six of them. That's all. No theme or connection between them. Nothing clever, like they're all names that are also animals (like BUFFALO and to an extent PHOENIX) or names that are also TV shows (RIVERSIDE) or names that are geological features (BOULDER) or whatever. Just six CITYNAMEs, all of them in the US.

I suppose the only thing that does link them is that they are all something other than just proper nouns; by that measure New York or Miami or Chicago would not work. But all the same, it's stretching things a bit to call CITYNAME a unifying theme.

That lack of a real concept behind it made it difficult to solve. I got BEND and then MOBILE first, and neither particularly screamed 'You need to list US city names' to me, even when taking into account the theme clue of 'This is the place!'. Yes, I know that both are cities, and it even occured to me as a possible connection, but I dismissed it as silly. Little did I know…

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, 21 November, game #263)

• POKER
• CHIMNEY
• BROOM
• FLUE
• HEARTH
• SCREEN
• MANTEL
• SPANGRAM: FIREPLACE

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

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

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at this price is a steal.

• Security researchers from Netskope found an upgraded version of Python NodeStealer
• This dangerous infostealer can also now target Facebook Ads Manager accounts
• It can steal credit card information, data stored in browsers, and more

Python NodeStealer, an infamous infostealer that targeted Facebook Business accounts, has been upgraded with new and dangerous features to make it capable of targeting Facebook Ads Manager accounts as well, steal more data, and thus open the gateway to more destructive malware campaigns.

Cybersecurity researchers Netskope Threat Labs have published a new, in-depth analysis of NodeStealer, noting it can now pilfer credit card information, in addition to stealing credentials stored in the browser.

The process is done by copying the “Web Data” of all targeted browsers, they explained. Web Data is a SQLite database storing sensitive data such as autofill information and saved payment methods.

Abusing Windows Restart Manager

“With these, the infostealer can now collect the victim’s credit card information which includes the cardholder’s name, card expiration date, and card number," the researchers noted.

It uses Python’s SQLite3 library to run a query on the stolen database, looking for specific strings (credit card information).

Furthermore, Python NodeStealer now uses Windows Restart Manager to unlock database files. This library cuts down on the number of reboots needed after software updates, by simply restarting the processes that lock updated files, but in this instance, it is being abused in data theft.

First, the infostealer extracts the information by copying browser database files into a temp folder. But since the files are usually locked by another operation, they cannot be used, which is where Windows Restart Manager is used. Finally, the files are exfiltrated via a Telegram bot.

Python NodeStealer is most likely being developed by a threat actor located in Vietnam. Their main goal is to compromise Facebook Business and now - Facebook Ads Manager accounts, which they can later abuse in malvertising campaigns.

Facebook is usually rigorous when it comes to purchasing ads on its platform, and only vetted, verified accounts are allowed to do so. Crooks rarely make it past the platform’s scanners, and resort to stealing verified accounts to run their campaigns, instead.

Via The Hacker News

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