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NYT Strands hints, answers for October 29
The NYT Strands hints and answers you need to make the most of your puzzling experience.
If you’re reading this, you’re looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game.
Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: You and me
These words are buddies.
Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
Words that refer to friendships.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Togetherness.
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NYT Strands word list for October 29
Friend
Companion
Partner
Bestie
Sidekick
Togetherness
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
‘September 5’ review: a blinkered, noncommittal thriller about an Olympic hostage crisis
Review of “September 5”: a film re-telling the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis and a journalistic retrospective about TV broadcasting.
An unremarkable real-world thriller, September 5 fails on numerous fronts: both as a film re-telling the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis, and as a journalistic retrospective about TV broadcasting. It arrives with renewed relevance in light of constant, harrowing news from Palestine, but the movie’s narrowed focus — almost entirely confining the plot to the real-time developments within ABC’s Munich newsroom — is a blinkered approach that ends up saying little about the events either in retrospect, or as they unfolded in the moment.
Swiss director Tim Fehlbaum brings clockwork proficiency to his screenplay (which he co-wrote with Moritz Binder and Alex David). However, his technical acumen is in service of a mechanical cinematic experience whose political outlook is awkward at best, and status-quo fawning at worst. That the film is now on people’s Oscar radar appears to be an outcome of its appearance on one solitary list of predictions, despite it receiving little buzz out of its Venice premiere. Whether September 5 hits with award bodies remains to be seen, but to laud it with trophies would be a severe political miscalculation, an act that — like the film itself — is all bluster, and features little by way of artistic inquiry.
What is September 5 about?
In the early hours of Sept. 5, 1972, eight gunmen from the Palestinian militia Black September took the Israeli Olympic team hostage in their hotel and demanded the release of over 200 Palestinian prisoners — an event depicted in the opening scenes of Steven Spielberg’s Munich. Among the first news stories of its kind to be broadcast live around the globe, this armed encounter helped set the stage for such coverage in the future, a self-reflexivity the movie hints toward, as its journalists scramble to bring the story to a worldwide audience. Far from saints, some of its journalist characters are downright opportunistic, which begins to paint an intriguing portrait of the future of TV news. However, Fehlbaum never quite follows this instinct.
On one hand, tethering the film’s perspective to ABC’s makeshift control center offers unique insight into live broadcasting, a complex technical process seldom explored on screen. In that vein, the film is tantalizingly tactile, with its use of maps, books, and telephones re-jigged to function as radio receivers so the whole team can eavesdrop on German police scanners. On the other hand, the ethics of breakneck TV decision-making, and the media’s role in capturing the affair, which took place over 20 hours, while making harmful mistakes — like broadcasting police strategies live on air, so the attackers could get one step ahead— play out in rote fashion.
It’s as though September 5 were obligated to touch on every item on a biopic checklist, more so the logistics of “what” and “who” rather than the more emotionally detailed “how” and “why,” without exploring the broader implications of what’s on screen. Even meeting the movie on its level, within these narrow parameters, yields disappointing drama, since the edit rarely ruminates on the momentary impact of any event or decision. “It’s not about details, it’s about EMOTIONS,” one character argues in a pivotal scene. If only the movie had followed suit.
However, the issues don’t begin and end with how the story is told; they’re often tied to what sliver of the larger whole the movie chooses to tell (and all that it leaves to the imagination). John Magaro plays Geoffrey Mason, the spry new producer charged with making real-time editing decisions, while Peter Sarsgaard appears as executive Roone Arledge, a vulture of sorts, but a suit who gets things done against all odds. The tension between them is akin to that of film directors and studio execs battling over an edit — what’s right for the story vs. what’s best business — only in the case of an armed standoff and hostage negotiation unfolding in real time, that edit happens just seconds before images make it to air.
As the superego to Magaro and Sarsgaard’s ego and id, Ben Chaplin’s broadcasting overseer Marvin Bader is an occasional voice of reason, though his function is largely to verbalize the movie’s ethical conundrums. Few of these are allowed to play out within the drama itself, since the movie is quick to jump from any brief moment of realization or self-reflection toward the next real-world event.
The half-baked politics of September 5.
Conspicuous by his physical absence through much of the film is a character who makes a fleeting appearance early on: TV journalist Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker), whose brief dialogue in the newsroom hints at the complex politics involved. Jennings’ voice can be heard through archival audio as he narrates the hostage situation live, but any sense that his extensive experience covering the Middle East might come in handy and provide a nuanced perspective is often brushed aside by the film, and by the other characters. For instance, his suggestion that the word “terrorist” be avoided in favor of “guerillas” or “commandos” is practically treated as a punchline.
The term has since become loaded and racialized, and after a single exchange touches on this tension, the conversation quickly falls by the wayside, until the movie—in its closing titles — uses the term as well, rather than taking a more critical approach to the wider conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the way this language is weaponized (as the fictionalized Jennings had feared). No film is beholden to a more balanced view than corporate news media typically presents, but in gesturing toward complexity, September 5 sets a bare minimum target for itself that it fails to hit. It’s practically audacious in this misstep, in light of recent asymmetrical coverage of Israel’s current bombing campaign of the Gaza strip.
No such wider lens is applied to the movie, and it suffers in the process. The claustrophobia and urgency of a newsroom can make for engaging storytelling, but the film adheres to the very same limitations the reporters were constrained by at the time, as they scrambled to put two and two together. If it has any dramatic irony, it’s only toward the nation of Germany, who had hoped to use the ’72 games as a peaceful benchmark of how far they’d come since World War II. Dialogue about how German efficiency would quickly solve the crisis — when the police badly dropped the ball in reality, leading to a disastrous airfield shootout — makes it apparent that Fehlbaum and co. are capable of at least winking at the audience and folding, into the movie’s purview, a sense of foresight.
However, this broad cinematic empathy has its limits in September 5, and the movie instead wears nominally progressive notions on its sleeve through isolated newsroom incidents. A local female correspondent, Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), is underestimated by her male peers, who learn to value her skills one scene later. A racist character’s remark about Arabs is swiftly rebuked by his Algerian coworker, though that’s the entire extent of the film’s perspective on Middle Eastern geopolitics.
The only thing that matters in September 5 is the newsroom, and even when its newsmen exacerbate the crisis, or struggle with what’s right — like whether to keep their cameras trained on potential executions — the camera holds on Magaro, Sarsgaard, and Chaplin’s intense performances just long enough to conjure curiosity about their doubts. Then, as it moves on, it simply forgets that these questions were even asked in the first place, or that they matter.
September 5 is aesthetically malformed.
An early scene in September 5 has all the intensity of a CIA control room in one of Paul Greengrass’ Bourne films, which is high praise considering how those movies used cinéma vérité to embody the modern surveillance state. Fehlbaum and cinematographer Markus Förderer’s camera work in tandem with Hansjörg Weißbrich’s editing provide a tightly controlled sequence of up-to-the minute decision making, cut hastily but precisely, and aimed at intimate image-making.
It’s a treat to watch, but the only problem is that this scene is about a swimming competition the day before the hostage crisis begins. Nothing in the rest of the film matches this intensity, which is partly owed to the fact that September 5 has an incredibly awkward relationship to time. Where the events of the swim meet unfold over several minutes (condensed to several seconds as the news crew captures personal and national victory), the hostage crisis goes on for a full day.
However, in capturing its chronology, the film presents little difference between a cut within the same scene and a cut that skips forward several minutes or hours. Unless a character mentions the time on the clock, it’s hard to keep track of how much time has elapsed, or how the situation has evolved.
This is also a function of the movie’s central narrative choice: to practically never leave the newsroom. If their cameras don’t capture it, they don’t see it, which often renders the events themselves a mere background fixture, whose impact never seems to land. No new dimensions are revealed to violence, its causes, or its overarching politics, but the movie also provides little insight into the complications (and royal muck-ups) within the newsroom itself. September 5 runs a hair over 90 minutes, but this time is better spent watching Kevin Macdonald’s Oscar-winning documentary on the same subject, One Day in September, which is made up of archival footage pulled from numerous sources, rather than locking itself to one perspective that isn’t particularly interesting or enlightening to begin with.
September 5 was reviewed out of its Philadelphia Film Festival premiere. It opens in theaters Nov. 29.
Wordle today: Answer, hints for October 29
Here’s the answer for “Wordle” #1228 on October 29, as well as a few hints, tips, and clues to help you solve it yourself.
Oh hey there! If you’re here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we’re serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today’s answer.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for October 29’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
A loose garment worn by the ancient Greeks.
Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no reoccurring letters.
Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter T.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
TUNIC.
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for October 29
Connections is a New York Times word game that’s all about finding the “common threads between words.” How to solve the puzzle.
Connections is the latest New York Times word game that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for October 29’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Brand new
Green: Jobs at a hospital
Blue: Parts of a Julius Cesar quote
Purple: Types of squares
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Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: In Pristine Condition
Green: Medical Roles
Blue: Singular Noun in a Famous “Julius Caesar” Line
Purple: ___Square
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections #506 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
In Pristine Condition: MINT, NEW, ORIGINAL, UNUSED
Medical Roles: ATTENDING, FELLOW, INTERN, RESIDENT
Singular Noun in a Famous “Julius Caesar” Line: COUNTRYMAN, EAR, FRIEND, ROMAN
___Square: PERFECT, POCKET, TIMES, TOWN
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
‘A Man on the Inside’ trailer: Mike Schur and Ted Danson reunite for an undercover comedy
Trailer for “A Man on the Inside,” the latest sitcom from “The Good Place” creator Mike Schur, starring Ted Danson, is coming soon to Netflix.
Trailer for “A Man on the Inside,” the latest sitcom from “The Good Place” creator Mike Schur, starring Ted Danson, is coming soon to Netflix.
‘The Sticky’ trailer: Margo Martindale, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist
“The Sticky,” starring Margo Martindale and Jamie Lee Curtis, hits Prime Video December 6.
“The Sticky,” starring Margo Martindale and Jamie Lee Curtis, hits Prime Video December 6.
Netflix just made it easier to stan their shows
Stan culture rejoice! Netflix announces a new feature that lets viewers save and share clips from the content they watch on their phones.
A new era of fandom has entered the villa: Netflix will now let you save and reshare your favorite scenes directly to your friend and followers. That’s right. No more black screens or scrounging the timeline for ripped clips to share to your stan account, the app will do it for you.
Introduced to iOS users exclusively on the Netflix app, the new Moments feature allows users to pause their content, save a clip of what they just watched to their account (to revisit over and over again, of course), and then share to external social media platforms, group chats, you name it. Saved Moments will live under the “My Netflix” tab, and media rewatches will begin wherever you last saved a Moment. The feature will be added for Android users in the coming weeks, the company said.
Fans at large have turned clip sharing into an economy of its own. As a popular way to evangelize your favorite shows, movies, or actors to the greater public, started by the mid-2000s GIF obsession, clip sharing has taken over apps like TikTok and Twitter on dedicated clip farming accounts that rake in millions of views. Until now, attempts to screen record or screenshot Netflix content have been fully blocked by the site, leaving most of the internet’s beloved fancam makers and stan accounts at the whim of ripped illicit recordings of their favorite media.
The company will also release a celebrity video series featuring Netflix stars going over their favorite scenes. “You know that feeling when a scene, character, or line from a show or movie just sticks with you,” Netflix chief marketing officer Marian Lee shared with Variety, “And you can’t help but text your friends, ‘You have to watch this, it’s so good!?’ Our new campaign is all about celebrating these unforgettable moments, taking you back to the feeling you had when you first became obsessed with a great show on Netflix.”
The new feature may be a calculated advertising move for Netflix itself, with viral clips often dictating public interest in both new and old media.
But as some rejoiced, other users were quick to point out the irony of Netflix finally allowing a (monitored) version of content sharing, while at the same time cracking down on password sharing, striking its most affordable plans, and erasing digital content — including originals — from its platform.
How to save and share a Moment
2 min
Netflix mobile app
Step 1:
Download the Netflix app and log in to your account.
Step 2:
Begin playing your favorite piece of media.
Step 3:
When you get to your favorite part, tap on the screen and select “Moments” on the bottom left corner of the screen.
Step 4:
Hit “Save” on the scene (timestamp will be included).
Step 5:
You can save Moments in the app or export them to platforms like X, Instagram, or Facebook, or send them directly to your friends with a link.
Score $30 off ‘Madden NFL 25’ at Amazon
As of Oct. 28, you can get up to 43% off “Madden NFL 25” at Amazon. Buy it for $39.99 now.
GET $30 OFF: As of Oct. 28, you can get up to 43% off Madden NFL 25 at Amazon. Buy it for $39.99 now.
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If you’re into football and have some free time on your hands, Amazon has some pretty good deals on EA Sports games right now, including College Football 25, Madden NFL 24, and Madden NFL 25.
As of Oct. 28, you can score $30 off Madden 25, bringing the price down to $39.99. This is a sweet deal on a game that came out this spring. Even if you’re not a huge football fan, this game is worth checking out at least once. (It’s available to PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC gamers.)
“The gameplay in this year’s Madden is a more refined experience, a culmination of previous work by EA Orlando within the Frostbite Engine,” Mashable’s General Assignments Editor, Chance Townsend, writes in his review. “When stacked against the recently released College Football 25, which emphasizes fast and flashy gameplay, Madden 25 adopts a more cerebral, methodical pace that captures the essence of the pro game,” adding, “It genuinely feels like EA Orlando has perfected their use of the Frostbite engine’s animations.”
Mini crossword answers for October 28
Answers to each clue for the October 28, 2024 edition of Arkadium daily mini crossword on Mashable.com.
The Daily Mini Crossword is one of the many popular daily word games available on Mashable. Powered by Arkadium, the mini crossword offers a speed round of puzzle fun with clues that are sure to challenge experienced crossword enthusiasts.
But there’s no need to let the challenge get in the way of your enjoyment! If moments are turning to minutes after getting stuck on a clue, find the answers you need to progress right here.
And when you’re done, check out the many other word games you can play on Mashable, including a full-size crossword.
Also, if you get stuck on any other daily word games, such as Wordle, Connections, or Strands — we have you covered.
Here are the clues and answers to Daily Mini Crossword for Monday, October 28, 2024:
Across
Packers hall of famer
The answer is Favre.
Annoyed
The answer is Ateat.
Internet slang, similar to “chonk”
The answer is Thicc.
Permanently borrowed
The answer is Stole.
“Haven’t _____ before?
The answer is WeMet.
The hapless Corleone
The answer is Fredo.
Down
Having more excess pounds
The answer is Fatter.
In for the night
The answer is AtHome.
Like some threats and brides
The answer is Veiled.
“_______ Witch Mountain” spawned a popular internet meme of The Rock driving.
The answer is RaceTo.
And so on: Abbr.
The answer is Etc.
Adobe flash file
The answer is SWR.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
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Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Mini Crossword.