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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 #484) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• KING KONG
• WHOOP
• ВЕЕР ВЕЕР
• YAHOO
• DING-DONG
• HAR-HAR
• КОКО
• HOOT
• SKRRT
• BUBBLES
• DODO
• PURR
• YUK
• YO-YO
• VROOM
• GEORGE

NYT Connections today (game #484) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Idiot
• Green: Sounds like a car sounds
• Blue: Laughter noises
• Purple: Great apes (and monkeys)

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 #484) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: KNUCKLEHEAD
• GREEN: CAR ONOMATOPOEIA
• BLUE SOUNDS OF LAUGHTER
• PURPLE: FAMOUS PRIMATES

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

NYT Connections today (game #484) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #484, are…

• YELLOW: KNUCKLEHEAD DING-DONG, DODO, YAHOO, YO-YO
• GREEN: CAR ONOMATOPOEIA BEEP BEEP, PURR, SKRRT, VROOM
• BLUE SOUNDS OF LAUGHTER HAR-HAR, HOOT, WHOOP, YUK
• PURPLE: FAMOUS PRIMATES BUBBLES, GEORGE, KING KONG, KOKO

• My rating: Difficult
• My score: Fail

Wow, this was really tough. I failed to solve it – in fact, I failed to solve all but one of the groups – but I don't feel particularly upset with myself, because it was just too difficult.

The one I did get was purple, FAMOUS PRIMATES. This was supposedly the hardest of the four, but I found it far more manageable than the other three (obviously, given that I failed them all). I did make a start on the others – for instance I spotted that CAR ONOMATOPOEIA was probably one, with BEEP BEEP and VROOM, but had never heard SKRRT and thought that HOOT was probably one too. The others all just baffled me a bit, but I doubt I'm the only one to struggle here.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 6 October, game #483)

• YELLOW: TURN TAIL FLEE, LEAVE, RETREAT, WITHDRAW
• GREEN: THINGS CATS DO KNEAD, PURR, SCRATCH, SHED
• BLUE: PAGES ON A WEBSITE ABOUT, CONTACT, HOME, LOGIN
• PURPLE: ___ CHEESE COTTAGE, CREAM, GOAT, STRING

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.

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Most excellent

NYT Strands today (game #218) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SALE
• STALE
• BLAND
• SHOT
• SCOT
• SLEW

NYT Strands today (game #218) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Good words

NYT Strands today (game #218) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: left, 5th row

Last: right, 7th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #218) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #218, are…

• CHOICE
• GROOVY
• SWELL
• DANDY
• BOSS
• RIGHTEOUS
• HYPE
• SPANGRAM: THATSCOOL

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Who knew there were so many words that essentially mean THAT'S COOL? I guess I did, because I found them all – though I'll admit that I've never used the terms HYPE, RIGHTEOUS, SWELL, GROOVY, CHOICE, BOSS or DANDY myself to describe something that's good. Always just cool.

Anyway, this is a pretty easy Strands puzzle, beyond RIGHTEOUS being annoyingly difficult to spell (that might just be me).

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday 6 October, game #217)

• BACON
• CHICKEN
• TOMATO
• VINAIGRETTE
• GREENS
• EGGS
• SPANGRAM: COBBSALAD

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.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 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 #987) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

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

Quordle today (game #987) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #987) - 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 #987) - 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 #987) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• C

• H

• A

• H

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

Quordle today (game #987) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #987, are…

• CAULK
• HALVE
• APING
• HEATH

Hands up if you remember CAULK appearing in Wordle and causing no end of problems soon after that game went viral? I certainly do; I was writing about it for our sister site Tom's Guide at the time and remember being swamped with emails complaining that it wasn't a fair word. It is a fair word, of course, albeit one that you might not be familiar with if you're not into DIY. I'm not, but fortunately I remembered it from then, so was able to find it easily enough here.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #987) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #987, are…

• SMITH
• VIGIL
• THIRD
• FACET

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #986, Sunday 6 October: FUDGE, TENOR, BEGAT, ROUSE
• Quordle #985, Saturday 5 October: ELECT, CROAK, FRISK, JAUNT
• Quordle #984, Friday 4 October: ELFIN, GRAIL, PATIO, RECAP
• Quordle #983, Thursday 3 October: TENTH, REMIT, CURVE, TOAST
• Quordle #982, Wednesday 2 October: ARGUE, CRANE, TOKEN, PRINT
• Quordle #981, Tuesday 1 October: FRILL, MADLY, GRANT, NYLON
• Quordle #980, Monday 30 September: CRUSH, TARDY, TEACH, STUMP
• Quordle #979, Sunday 29 September: SERIF, BORNE, WRITE, SLEEK
• Quordle #978, Saturday 28 September: BUSHY, CIVIC, SNOUT, EQUIP
• Quordle #977, Friday 27 September: GUEST, CHASM, ROOST, BASAL
• Quordle #976, Thursday 26 September: STAGE, VOGUE, CLUMP, HEATH
• Quordle #975, Wednesday 25 September: UMBRA, DADDY, GLAZE, PRANK
• Quordle #974, Tuesday 24 September: SPACE, INNER, SPAWN, BEGAT
• Quordle #973, Monday 23 September: GUILT, STERN, ANNEX, FIELD
• Quordle #972, Sunday 22 September: ZESTY, MEATY, ALIVE, DRAWN
• Quordle #971, Saturday 21 September: VITAL, FRAIL, SPEAR, EERIE
• Quordle #970, Friday 20 September: ELIDE, DITTO, SHAWL, BONUS
• Quordle #969, Thursday 19 September: MARRY, OWING, DICEY, LUCKY
• Quordle #968, Wednesday 18 September: CEDAR, VENOM, MIGHT, MEDIC
• Quordle #967, Tuesday 17 September: ETHOS, COUNT, PRINT, THREE

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A group of AI researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have developed an advanced tool that can solve Google’s CAPTCHA system with 100% accuracy, raising serious concerns about the future of CAPTCHA-based security.

CAPTCHA, an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart," has been a primary defense mechanism against bots for years, with Google’s reCAPTCHA being the most widely used.

This system uses image-based challenges and tracks user behavior to differentiate between humans and machines, however, advances in AI have led to these systems becoming increasingly vulnerable.

The CAPTCHA race is on

Andreas Plesner, Tobias Vontobel and Roger Wattenhofer recently modified the You Only Look Once (YOLO) image-processing model, successfully solving Google’s reCAPTCHAv2 human-testing system. The study they conducted focused on evaluating the effectiveness of reCAPTCHAv2, which has become a critical part of website security by blocking automated bots from accessing forms, purchasing products, or participating in online interactions.

This project revealed that the modified YOLO-based model achieved a 100% success rate in solving reCAPTCHAv2 image challenges, compared to earlier systems that only managed success rates of 68-71%. Additionally, the researchers found that bots required roughly the same number of challenges to solve CAPTCHAs as human users, leading to doubts about the system’s reliability in distinguishing between bots and real people. It was also discovered that reCAPTCHAv2 depends heavily on browser cookies and history data to evaluate whether a user is human, meaning that bots can bypass security features if they appear to have human-like browsing behavior.

As AI technology continues to evolve, the boundary between human and machine intelligence narrows. CAPTCHAs, designed to be solvable by humans but difficult for bots, may soon be rendered obsolete. This research underscores the challenge of creating new CAPTCHA systems that can outpace AI’s rapid advancement or the need to explore alternative forms of human verification.

The study, available on the arXiv preprint server, calls for the development of future CAPTCHA systems capable of adapting to AI advancements or the exploration of alternative methods of human verification. It also emphasizes the need for further research into refining datasets, improving image segmentation, and examining the triggers that activate blocking measures in automated CAPTCHA-solving systems.

These findings are significant because they point to an urgent need for innovation in digital security. As AI continues to progress, the traditional methods of distinguishing humans from machines become less reliable, forcing the tech industry to rethink security protocols and human verification methods in the near future.

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