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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Show of hands

NYT Strands today (game #332) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• TRAM
• SHOW
• TIME
• SLOPE
• PUCK
• FIRE

NYT Strands today (game #332) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Toy that comes with strings

NYT Strands today (game #332) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 6th column

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 #332) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #332, are…

• SOCK
• GLOVE
• STICK
• SHADOW
• FINGER
• MARIONETTE
• SPANGRAM: PUPPET MASTER

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 hints

Another super-long Spangram snake – so long that even though I’d got all of the main words I still struggled to identify it.

This was one of those Strands puzzles where nothing made sense until it was done. When I saw the clue, and the first two words I got were SOCK and GLOVE, I initially thought we were looking for words connected with boxing.

It wasn’t until I sighted MARIONETTE – definitely no boxing connection there – that reality slowly began to dawn and hazy memories of Sesame Street surfaced in my mind’s eye.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, 28 January, game #331)

• CROP
• REINS
• SADDLE
• HARNESS
• BRIDLE
• SPURS
• SPANGRAM: HORSEBACK RIDING

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 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 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 #1101) - 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 #1101) - 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 #1101) - 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 #1101) - 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 #1101) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• C

• S

• A

• C

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

Quordle today (game #1101) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1101, are…

• CROWN
• SCENE
• AGILE
• CRANK

There’s often a single letter that unlocks all four words in Quordle and today it was C. it took me a while to guess SCENE, but once I did it paved the way for CRANK and CROWN.

That said I still only just made it, with AGILE the only possibility on my final go.

Phew!

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1101) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1101, are…

• SNEER
• EMBED
• WITTY
• SPEAR

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1100, Tuesday 28 January: TOKEN, DAISY, INANE, PLIED
• Quordle #1099, Monday 27 January: ANGEL, GLOBE, MAYOR, BRAVE
• Quordle #1098, Sunday 26 January: WATER, ORBIT, BRIDE, TOUCH
• Quordle #1097, Saturday 25 January: GIVER, GROOM, GUSTO, MAKER
• Quordle #1096, Friday 24 January: GRIND, STOCK, SERVE, TOUCH
• Quordle #1095, Thursday 23 January: RUGBY, SASSY, WORRY, BANAL
• Quordle #1094, Wednesday 22 January: SLANT, TRUNK, WOOZY, EATEN
• Quordle #1093, Tuesday 21 January: CHART, VIGOR, PRINT, SPAWN
• Quordle #1092, Monday 20 January: SIXTY, THONG, TATTY, ROBIN
• Quordle #1091, Sunday 19 January: WREST, RINSE, SCOUR, CANNY
• Quordle #1090, Saturday 18 January: BLARE, ITCHY, BICEP, PIPER
• Quordle #1089, Friday 17 January: CATCH, WEARY, SWOON, LATHE
• Quordle #1088, Thursday 16 January: PARTY, BLUNT, TWEED, PLANT
• Quordle #1087, Wednesday 15 January: RISEN, PLATE, RURAL, ENVOY
• Quordle #1086, Tuesday 14 January: SWARM, SCRAP, ONION, BELCH
• Quordle #1085, Monday 13 January: EYING, GIDDY, CHEAP, PETAL
• Quordle #1084, Sunday 12 January: BRIEF, PETAL, WOMAN, FELON
• Quordle #1083, Saturday 11 January: ASCOT, FIBER, ROGUE, SMELL
• Quordle #1082, Friday 10 January: BIGOT, INLET, LEECH, TUNIC
• Quordle #1081, Thursday 9 January: RESET, HUMOR, TENOR, IMAGE

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 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 #598) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• WICKED
• GINGERBREAD
• FULL
• TALK
• POSSESSED
• VENOM
• ALIEN
• DROOL
• HAUNTED
• DREAM
• SNORE
• BORE
• HAD
• GLADIATOR
• WHITE
• HELD

NYT Connections today (game #598) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Kept
• GREEN: Bedtime habits 
• BLUE: In theaters last year
• PURPLE: Add a word that rhymes with “mouse” 

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 #598) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: OWNED 
• GREEN: THINGS YOU MIGHT DO IN YOUR SLEEP 
• BLUE: MOVIE SERIES WITH 2024 RELEASES 
• PURPLE: ____ HOUSE 

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

NYT Connections today (game #598) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #598, are…

• YELLOW: OWNED BORE, HAD, HELD, POSSESSED
• GREEN: THINGS YOU MIGHT DO IN YOUR SLEEP DREAM, DROOL, SNORE, TALK
• BLUE: MOVIE SERIES WITH 2024 RELEASES ALIEN, GLADIATOR, VENOM, WICKED
• PURPLE: ____ HOUSE FULL, GINGERBREAD, HAUNTED, WHITE

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 mistakes

After Monday’s SEEN IN “THE SHINING” category I momentarily convinced myself that there was a group of words today linked by another horror classic, The Exorcist maybe? – POSSESSED, WICKED, DROOL all seemed vaguely connected. But then I thought if Connections was doing that they’d at least have Priest and Vomit.

Having seen none of the MOVIE SERIES WITH 2024 RELEASES I bagged the Blue group by just thinking they all seemed linked somehow, before spying the HOUSE connection to FULL, GINGERBREAD, WHITE, and HAUNTED.

As for Yellow – I’m still annoyed about BORE and in the aftermath Merriam-Webster is not helping. Back to school for me.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 28 January, game #597)

• YELLOW: FUNNY PERSON CARD, CHARACTER, JOKER, LAUGH
• GREEN: RESISTANCE TRAINING EQUIPMENT BAND, BENCH, DUMBBELL, MAT
• BLUE: CANDY BARS MINUS "S" AIRHEAD, MAR, MOUND, SNICKER
• PURPLE: SPEED ___ BUMP, CHESS, DEMON, DIAL

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.

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• Organizations with dark web exposure are more vulnerable, report warns
• Compromised accounts and market listings double cyber breach risks
• Cumulative dark web sources elevate organizational cybersecurity threats

A study by Searchlight Cyber in collaboration with Marsh McLennan Cyber Risk Intelligence Center has revealed a direct correlation between dark web exposure and elevated cybersecurity risks.

The analysis of over 9,000 organizations provided insight into how data found on the dark web significantly increases the likelihood of cyberattacks, especially against businesses without adequate protection.

Therefore, by monitoring dark web exposure, businesses can better understand and mitigate these risks, protecting their data and reducing the chances of costly breaches.

Dark web intelligence and cyber risks

The study analyzed dark web intelligence sources against the cyber insurance losses reported from 2020 to 2023, and found a breach rate of 3.7% over four years, suggesting organizations with any form of dark web exposure were at much higher risk of experiencing a cyber incident.

Each of the nine dark web intelligence sources studied, such as compromised user accounts, dark web market listings, and outgoing dark web traffic, showed statistically significant correlations with cybersecurity risk. The data points not only highlight individual risk factors but also emphasize the compounded risk that emerges when multiple dark web sources interact.

Furthermore, specific dark web activity increases the likelihood of cyberattacks. The presence of compromised user accounts linked to an organization was found to raise the risk of a breach by 2.56 times. Dark web market listings, where an organization or its data is mentioned, heightened the risk by 2.41 times, while traffic between an organization’s network and the dark web resulted in a 2.11 times increased risk.

Other forms of exposure, such as open-source intelligence (OSINT) results and paste site leaks, also contributed to elevated risks. Paste results showed an 88% increase in the likelihood of an incident, while OSINT results correlated with a 2.05 times increased risk. The presence of an organization’s data in forums, Telegram chats, and dark web pages also contributed to the elevated risks, although to a slightly lesser extent.

It is also important for organizations to consider multiple dark web intelligence sources together. For example, an organization identified across five high-risk categories was found to be 77% more likely to suffer a cybersecurity breach compared to organizations without such exposure. Therefore, a combination of sources such as paste results, OSINT, and market listings provided the strongest indication of cyber risk.

Organizations are encouraged to therefore adopt dark web monitoring practices. Organizations are also encouraged to enhance cybersecurity practices to defend against the risks posed by dark web exposure, including ensuring strong password policies, using multi-factor authenticator apps, and maintaining up-to-date security protocols to minimize the risk of compromised accounts.

Furthermore, engaging in regular cybersecurity training for employees can help organizations better detect and respond to phishing attempts or other malicious activities often initiated via compromised credentials found on the dark web.

“The core finding of Marsh McLennan’s analysis is that any data related to your organization on the dark web is highly correlated with your chance of a cyberattack," noted Ben Jones, Co-Founder and CEO of Searchlight Cyber. "Cybercriminals plan their attacks on dark web forums, marketplaces, and in hidden communication channels, and the study has quantified the risk of each of these areas of dark web exposure for the first time."

“If security teams can identify their exposure on the dark web they have a huge opportunity to proactively act, adjust their defenses, and effectively stop attacks before they are launched by cybercriminals. The first step is to gain visibility: to understand where the threat on the dark web is coming from, where the organization is being targeted, and continuously monitor to give themselves the best chance of identifying and stopping a cybersecurity incident."

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Sources tell WIRED that the OPM’s top layers of management now include individuals linked to xAI, Neuralink, the Boring Company, and Palantir. One expert found the takeover reminiscent of Stalin.

• Max is relocating its top navigation menu to the side.
• It's also adding two new ways for you to find content to stream.
• The design change is starting to roll out slowly now to TVs.

If you’ve opened up the Max app on your TV and noticed the top navigation bar is, well, no longer at the top, you’re not seeing things. It’s part of a redesigned navigation menu that the streaming service is starting to roll out after a successful test in Latin America.

This change is only arriving for TVs – so smart interfaces or a streaming box like the Roku Ultra or Apple TV 4K – not for the web interface or mobile apps.

Where did your easy navigation to HBO go? I mean, we all need our Larry David fix courtesy of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Where did Sports, News, and Series go? Well, not that far, as it now resides in a new menu bar on the left side of the screen. And with it, Max is offering new ways to find curated content.

Two new sub-menus, What's New and Categories, join the existing Series, Movies, HBO, Sports, and News sub-menus. These sub-menus aim to make it easier to serve content recommendations and find something to stream. Both of these are typical quests for streamers, as various services try out new ways to get you consuming content faster and more effortlessly.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Max)A look at the new navigation bar for Max.Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Max)A look at the old navigation bar for Max.

What’s New is a bit more than the name suggests as well. Yes, it will serve up the latest arrivals on Max, but it will also shine a light on content that will be arriving in short order, but also – and maybe more importantly – the movies, TV shows, and documentaries that will be leaving. This way, you can get one or two more watches of the stuff you’re sad to see go.

Categories is a bit more self-explanatory but will break down content by different themes, genres, and brands. Either way, both new sections are welcomed additions to the preexisting ones, all there to help you find the shows and movies you want to watch faster.

Max’s navigation menu, living on the left, also cleans up the top of the interface, letting you see the top carousel image with little to no distractions. It might also let Max roll out more cinematic top visuals to promote its latest or featured content.

This rollout is not available to every Max subscriber at once, either, so don’t fret if you’re not seeing it yet. It will take some time to reach a subset of users first and eventually expand to the full customer base on connected TV devices around the world and wherever the streaming service is available. In a shared release, Max notes that the design might be “slightly modified across regions to fit local needs.”

It’ll be interesting to see the broader user reaction to Max’s navigation menu redesign, whether it gets tweaked further, and whether other streaming services will implement changes based on these. You might recall that Amazon gave Prime Video a big redesign this summer, and you can see our early hands-on with it here.

But considering we’re talking about Max, check out our favorite content on the platform here.

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• Pika just released the Pika 2.1 AI video creator with features like Scene Ingredients and lifelike motion control.
• Features like dynamic lighting and style transfer streamline cinema production.
• Compared to Sora, Pika 2.1 is aimed at any skill level.

AI video creator Pika Labs is keen to stand out from possible competitors like OpenAI and Sora, and its newest model adds some real power to that effort. Pika 2.1 adds a whole suite of new and upgraded features just a little over a month after Pika 2.0 dropped.

The new model offers users tools to make animation smoother, lighting more dramatic, and physics more realistic. It's not quite Pixar, but it's closer than you might first imagine, and it's still usable for those who watch YouTube tutorials for editing family album videos.

The Scene Ingredients feature introduced with Pika 2.0 is still the star of the new model, offering to incorporate people, objects, and locations lifted from photos you upload. Your living room becomes a starship bridge, and your dog can star in a romantic drama with a few clicks. However, the new Advanced Motion Control feature is where Pika 2.1 really flexes. Fluid and graceful animation is suddenly much more feasible, replacing earlier models' more robotic, awkward motions. Ballerinas and gymnasts can star in your video without looking like straw-filled dummies.

Thanks to the new Realistic Physics Simulation feature, all of the videos feel more like reality. Objects behave like they actually exist in the real world, meaning a character tossing a ball now results in an arc and bounce – just like Isaac Newton says it should. Though a somewhat subtle upgrade in some ways, it still changes your animation from feeling like a video game cutscene to more of a live-action performance.

The new Dynamic Lighting Effects also lets you enhance those scenes with a real mood. Shadows deepen, highlights pop, and sunsets look like they were plucked straight out of a travel influencer’s reel. And if you'd rather have a much more stylized kind of cinema, the new Seamless Style Transfer feature lets you revamp your modern, realistic video into a neon-noir from the 1980s or a moving watercolor painting.

Pika power

Of course, Pika 2.1 isn’t entering an empty arena. It’s up against Sora and many others like Runway, Pollo, and Luma Labs' Dream Machine. Sora has earned praise for its text-to-video capabilities, but is really mostly for professionals, not casual filmmakers. Runway has some impressive creations and multimodal input that can create videos from text, images, or existing video clips. Still, there is also a bit of a steep learning curve to unlock all of its features.

Pika 2.1, meanwhile, pitches itself as a good tool for professional animators and weekend dabblers alike. That said, you will need a subscription to use Pika 2.1 and all the new features. Otherwise, you'll only be able to use the Pika 1.5 model. That's nothing to sneeze at, as Pika 1.5 offers a host of fun visual effects to entice you into signing up and accessing the latest Pika model.

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• A new phishing scam has targeted a Google programmer
• The attack was worryingly convincing, and has made Google tighten defenses in response
• Not sure how to spot a phishing scam? Follow our tips

A new ultra-realistic phishing scam reported by a Google programmer could make a lot of us a little uneasy.

Zach Latta, warned in a recent blog post, “Someone just tried the most sophisticated phishing attack I've ever seen. I almost fell for it. My mind is a little blown.”

Starting with a phone call from the Caller ID ‘Google’, this phishing attempt was enough to convince a Google programmer into being one button press away from disaster - here’s what we know so far.

A convincing story

On the other side of Latta's phone call, which is a genuine number associated with Google Assistant calls, was a ‘Google engineer’ called Chloe.

The connection was ‘super clear’, with Latta noting the scammer had an American accent, and claimed to be from Google Workspace - asking if he had recently attempted to log into his account from Frankfurt, Germany.

From there, the programmer asked if ‘Chloe’ could confirm this by emailing from an official Google email. Worryingly, the scammer obliged, and sent Latta an incredibly official looking email with a case number.

Not only was the email sent, but it was sent from the address ‘workspace-noreply@ google.com’, and related to his ‘password for important.g.co’ which the attacker claimed was an internal Google subnet. This is important, because even our own TechRadar phishing advice identifies this as a serious indication of risk.

But g.co is an official Google URL - which is confirmed by Google and even has its own Wikipedia page. Latta, being a tech worker, knew to verify the phone number, so Googled the number - and was encouraged to do so by the scammer, who advised him to quote his case number if he called. The number is listed on google.com pages, which was enough to placate Latta enough.

The scammer was encouraging Latta to carry out a ‘sessions reset’, on his device, which rang alarm bells for the programmer. The scam's first stumbling block came when Latta checked his Google Workspace logs himself, and of course, didn’t find any suspicious activity.

When pressed, the scam began to unravel - with the attacker transferring to a manager who further encouraged Latta to log out from all devices and reset his password. Shockingly, the scammer was able to provide the genuine MFA code that was sent to Latta, which, if entered, would’ve given the attackers access to Latta’s account.

Thankfully, Latta was able to spot the red flags and by this point, was already suspicious enough to avoid handing his account over - but the scammer got close, Latta admitted.

“Literally 1 button press from being completely pwned. And I'm pretty technical!”

This particular attack has made Google up its defenses in response.

“We’ve suspended the account behind this scam, which abused an unverified Workspace account to send these misleading emails" a Google spokesperson told TechRadarPro.

"We have not seen evidence that this is a wide scale tactic, but we are hardening our defenses against abusers leveraging g.co references at sign up to further protect users."

Google also reiterated: "Google will not call you to reset your password or troubleshoot account issues.”

The news follows a trend of cybercriminals deploying smarter and more frequent attacks, in part enabled by the advent of AI. This particular scam even bypassed MFA and used a legitimate Google domain, so even the most tech-savvy among us should be on the lookout.

Escaping phishing attacks

What’s concerning about this scam in particular is that it has found workarounds for some of the classic tell-tale signs of a scam. As Latta said,

“The thing that's crazy is that if I followed the 2 "best practices" of verifying the phone number + getting them to send an email to you from a legit domain, I would have been compromised.”

Checking the legitimacy of the email and phone number is pretty much the first recommendation for any unexpected communications - and that’s still good advice, but clearly it will only filter out the lower level attacks at this point. If you’re not sure what exactly a phishing attack is, we’ve put together an explainer.

That said, remaining suspicious of any and all unknown communications, especially those urging action, really is the best defense against phishing attacks.

In the kindest way possible, it’s unlikely you’re important enough for Google to be concerned enough to call you about your personal email account - so be very wary of anyone reaching out to you out of nowhere.

A Google spokesperson told TheRegister, “As a reminder, Google will not call users to reset their passwords or troubleshoot account issues, so feel free to treat any incoming calls as the garbage they are.”

Look out for any obvious markers, like bad spelling or grammar - and be mindful of which organizations would already know your name - it’s unlikely your bank would start an email with ‘Dear customer’.

Alongside that, avoid clicking any links on emails from people you don’t know, and don’t open attachments or scan QR codes either. If you’d like more detail, take a look at our full phishing defense and how to stop it.

Another layer of defense against scams, is using the best identity theft protection, which can help if you do accidentally click the wrong thing.

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