Technology

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 473 for Sept. 26.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 26.

The free-for-all of AI image creation on X had a rude wakeup this week when Nintendo's copyright infringement hunter Tracer, as first reported by the Verge, laid takedown notices on several users who had shared images of Mario built using X's Grok-2 AI model. Tracer sent dozens of users the notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). 

The Grok AI chatbot on X employs the FLUX.1 model to produce images, but the AI didn't seem to have much of an intellectual property filter when it came out. That led to many images of characters like Mario behaving in ways their parent companies would not be thrilled about seeing. For instance, pictures of the Nintendo mascot drinking and smoking cigarettes were among the most common targets of the DMCA notices. 

Tracer even uses AI tools to spot when its clients have had their trademarks or copyrights violated. These AI tools are designed to scan large volumes of content for any potential infringement. Of course, those AI tools are as imperfect as the image generators, which meant even hand-drawn fan art of Mario reportedly provoked DMCA notices in some cases. That raises concerns about potential overreach since fan art is (usually) not illegal to make or share outside of certain circumstances.

Art Attack

Since the takedown notices came from Tracer, Nintendo's explicit instructions, if any, to Tracer have not been revealed. But it's not hard to imagine Nintendo wanting to be aggressive about AI image creation using its IP. The company's history of legal action over unauthorized use is a deterrent in many cases, though random fans using AI engines have not been a major target before. But, while Nintendo's lawsuit against Palworld and its imitation Pokémon game is getting headlines now, it may seem small potatoes should the video game giant go after Elon Musk's xAI and X or the open-source Flux.

Nintendo may want to come in early and hard against AI-generated content, which it believes violates its IP rights, but it may be too late. Though OpenAI’s DALL-E, Google’s Gemini, Midjourney, and many other image generators have strict rules in place to limit these kinds of images from their own AI models, Flux and others are clearly not as bothered about it. Whether DMCA notices or even lawsuits will stop people from making images of Mario acting in ways you'd never see in an official video game remains to be seen.

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Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 25.

Here are some hints, and the answers, for the Sept. 25 Strands puzzle, No. 206.

The slippery looking baby's name translates to "bouncy pork" or maybe "meatball."

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 #473) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SWELL
• FRILL
• BIKINI
• WAX
• TRIM
• CHEESE
• NEAT
• BORDER
• GROW
• DRY
• BEAN
• VIRGIN
• THEORY
• STRAIGHT
• FRINGE
• MOUNT

NYT Connections today (game #473) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Pretty side to something
• Green: More and more
• Blue: How'd you take that?
• Purple: [like a thick thread] blank

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 #473) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: DECORATIVE EDGE
• GREEN: INCREASE, IN A WAY
• BLUE: SPECIFICATIONS FOR A BARTENDER
• PURPLE: STRING ___

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

NYT Connections today (game #473) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #473, are…

• YELLOW: DECORATIVE EDGE BORDER, FRILL, FRINGE, TRIM
• GREEN: INCREASE, IN A WAY GROW, MOUNT, SWELL, WAX
• BLUE: SPECIFICATIONS FOR A BARTENDER DRY, NEAT, STRAIGHT, VIRGIN
• PURPLE: STRING ___ BEAN, BIKINI, CHEESE, THEORY

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

Give me a group containing CHEESE and I pretty much guarantee I will solve it. Doesn't matter what the connection is – if it involves cheese, I'm up for the challenge. And so it was today with STRING ___, the hardest purple group, which I got with my very first guess, spotting that CHEESE, THEORY, BEAN and BIKINI could all go after STRING.

I've marked this Connections puzzle as moderate rather than easy, though, because despite not making any mistakes I did have to think a fair bit about the other three groups. Maybe I played slightly more conservatively than I sometimes do, but I stared and stared and stared at the board for what seemed like an hour (but was probably about five minutes) before spotting the yellow DECORATIVE EDGE group, then a little longer before getting SPECIFICATIONS FOR A BARTENDER.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 25 September, game #472)

• YELLOW: TRIO OF SPORTS ACHIEVEMENTS HAT TRICK, THREEPEAT, TRIFECTA, TRIPLE CROWN
• GREEN: NEEDS FOR PAINTING A ROOM DROP CLOTH, PAINT, ROLLER, TAPE
• BLUE: FOOD NAMED AFTER CITIES BROIL, CHEESESTEAK, SPROUTS, WINGS
• PURPLE: ___ DERBY DEMOLITION, HOME RUN, KENTUCKY, SOAP BOX

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Special delivery

NYT Strands today (game #207) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SING
• BASING
• STROLL
• BELL
• PALE
• PANG

NYT Strands today (game #207) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Bringing up baby

NYT Strands today (game #207) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: right, 4th row

Last: left, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #207) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #207, are…

• SWING
• CRIB
• HIGHCHAIR
• STROLLER
• BLANKET
• PLAYPEN
• SPANGRAM: BABYGEAR

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

I needed a hint here, because the theme clue of 'Special delivery' wasn't enough for me to identify the concept, even once I'd uncovered my first answer, SWING, by accident. This was unfortunate – if I'd have got CRIB or HIGHCHAIR or PLAYPEN I'm sure I'd have been fine. But SWING can mean many things, as can Special delivery, so I was left in the dark until I used that hint.

After that it was plain sailing, other than for the spangram; I could see that BABY was part of it, but needed to cross off a few more answers before I realized that GEAR was the other half of the word. But in summary: it was, um, child's play.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 25 September, game #206)

• ROUND
• BRISKET
• FLANK
• SIRLOIN
• SHANK
• CHUCK
• RIBEYE
• SPANGRAM: BEEFCUTS

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.

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Wish your PC booted up faster? Well, if you think your computer has a sluggish startup time, how about waiting the best part of a week for the machine to boot? That’s the length of time a Linux PC powered by an ancient Intel CPU will keep you tapping your fingers on the desk.

Tom’s Hardware flagged up this left-field experiment, undertaken by a programmer, Dmitry Grinberg, who set about using the Intel 4004 to boot up Linux (Debian, to be precise).

You may be aware that this isn’t just any old processor, but Intel’s very first chip, and indeed the first commercially produced microprocessor in the world, which arrived in 1971. Yes, over half a century ago now, the Intel 4004 appeared in all its 4-bit glory (with its successor being the Intel 8080, later leading to the famous 8086 processor, ushering in the x86 era).

So, how does this silicon relic boot Debian exactly? Very, very, very, very slowly, is the answer.

Indeed, booting up Linux took 4.76 days, and as Tom’s notes, even carrying out a directory listing command took the aged CPU some 16 hours – ouch.

The full video of the Linux system being booted is available on YouTube in unedited form, but even speeded up to 120x faster, it takes 1 hour and 40 minutes to watch – should you be suffering from a bit of insomnia, and in need of some material at bedtime, perhaps. If you want the short 10-minute take, see it below.

Analysis: All the gory details

This is very definitely one of those projects that falls into the ‘fun but pointless’ category, which Grinberg fully admits. Frankly, it’s a wonder that it can be done at all – remember that the Intel 4004 was a 4-bit processor originally developed as a calculator chip.

How on Earth was this feat performed, exactly? Well, Grinberg’s extensive blog post provides a full account, but if you’re going to brave that, be warned that it goes in-depth into all sorts of techie details.

The quick version is that the programmer used a dev board as the system with an Intel 4004 processor, clock generator, RAM, a ROM controller (and an ATMEGA48 acting as ROM), and then needed to pull off some emulation tricks and a raft of Linux optimizations.

In short, hats off to Grinberg, who has authored a bunch of other interesting projects shown off on that blog site, including the enterprising feat of PokéWalker hacking (the PokéWalker was one of the most accurate pedometers ever made, can you believe?).

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