NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, April 4 (game #397)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, April 3 (game #396).

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 #397) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Step on it!

NYT Strands today (game #397) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• MEAT
• WOOD
• TIRE
• REAL
• WHALE
• MATE

NYT Strands today (game #397) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #396) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: right, 7th row

Last side: left, 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 #397) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #397, are…

• CONCRETE
• HARDWOOD
• LINOLEUM
• LAMINATE
• TERRAZZO
• SPANGRAM: FLOORING

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• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 hints

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The beauty of Strands is that it gets you thinking about things you wouldn’t normally think about, like today’s search for FLOORING.

There’s a town not far from where I live in London called Staines – they’ve rebranded as Staines-on-Thames because a) they think it sounds more classy than Staines and b) Sacha Baron Cohen based his character Ali G in the town and it’s not something they’re proud of.

What they are proud of, though, is that LINOLEUM made in Staines was once world-famous and was exported around the globe. What Carrara in southern Tuscanny is to marble, Staines in northwest Surrey is to solidified linseed oil. There is a beautiful statue in the city center of two men carrying a roll. A very rare example, in the UK at least, of a statue that honors working people instead of some major on a horse.

Despite my deep love for lino – and indeed CONCRETE (something my father used to tell me my head was made from) – I struggled with today’s search and needed a couple of hints to get me going. You could say I was floored.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, 3 April, game #396)

• LADY
• STINK
• DOODLE
• LIGHTNING
• POTATO
• ASSASSIN
• SPANGRAM: ENTOMOLOGY

---

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

https://ift.tt/VdCXmnA

NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, April 3 (game #396)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, April 2 (game #395).

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 #396) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Get the bug

NYT Strands today (game #396) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• THAN
• DOLE
• SOAP
• TOOL
• SNAP
• LADS

NYT Strands today (game #396) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #396) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 4th row

Last side: right, 3rd row

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

NYT Strands today (game #396) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #396, are…

• LADY
• STINK
• DOODLE
• LIGHTNING
• POTATO
• ASSASSIN
• SPANGRAM: ENTOMOLOGY

---

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 hints

---

ENOTOMOLOGY, and I will tell you as I’ve just googled it, is the study of insects, encompassing their biology, ecology, behavior, and interactions with humans.

I must admit that a couple of the bugs that made today’s search are ones that I thought were just names for things, rather than names for actual insects.

Until today I thought DOODLEbug was the name given, during the Second World War, to flying bombs – rather than a small unattractive creature that lives in sand.

Strictly speaking, LADYbugs are beetles rather than bugs and they’re really fascinating.

The two facts that I remember most about them is that although they have a short lifespan (two years at most) they hibernate for about nine months of that time and secondly that the charming name for a large group of them is a “loveliness”.

STINKbugs don’t have an official collective term but the experts like to call large groups “a stench”.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, 2 April, game #395)

• DAZZLE
• TWINKLE
• SHIMMER
• SPARKLE
• GLEAM
• RADIATE
• SPANGRAM: STAR POWER

---

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

https://ift.tt/QJFnb43

Gave up trying to install Chrome on Windows 11 because it wouldn’t work? Google has fixed this error, but I can’t believe how long it took

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• Google’s Chrome installer for PCs with AMD and Intel CPUs has been broken for the past week
• Detective work suggests that the version for these PCs was accidentally replaced by the Arm installer, which is for very different Snapdragon CPUs
• While the issue has now been fixed, Google took a long time to resolve it

---

Those trying to install the Chrome browser in Windows 11 or 10 over the course of the past week may well have been flummoxed by an error telling them the app won’t run on their PC – and I can’t quite believe how long it’s taken Google to fix this.

Nonetheless, the good news is that the glitch is fixed, even if it took the company way longer than it should have.

The problem, in case you missed it, was flagged on Reddit and by Windows Latest a week ago.

What happened was that on firing up the Chrome Installer file (ChromeSetup.exe, download from Google’s website), people watched the process come to a screeching halt, with an error message that read: “This app can’t run on your PC: To find a version for your PC, check with the software publisher.”

As to the cause, Windows Latest did some detective work, and theorized that what Google had done here – somehow – was accidentally swap the Arm installer of Chrome with the x86 installer. Meaning that the version of Chrome for Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon (Arm-based) processors got swapped with the version for AMD or Intel CPUs.

That conclusion was based on digging into the setup file and finding references to ‘Arm’ which surely wouldn’t be there with a non-Arm executable. Furthermore, 9 to 5 Google backs up this theory, as the tech site tried the faulty version of Chrome on a Snapdragon PC, and found it worked fine (as it would do if it was the Arm installer).

9 to 5 Google was also on the ball in terms of noticing that the issue is finally cured, and you can now download the Chrome installer on a Windows PC with an AMD or Intel CPU, and it’ll work just as you’d expect.

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(Image credit: Shutterstock / Khosro)

Analysis: A bafflingly basic mistake with only one winner (Edge)

Okay, so mistakes can be made. Indeed, they happen all the time in the tech world, or elsewhere for that matter. But for such a basic glitch to be left in place to annoy a bunch of Windows users for the best part of a week is baffling – especially while reports were flying around about the problem.

I can’t imagine this was something that was particularly difficult to resolve, either, as it looks like a simple mix up of files, as noted (unless there’s something I’m missing here). Apparently, the Arm version of Google Chrome wasn’t affected, and the installer still worked for those with a Snapdragon-powered machine.

This could have cost Google some Chrome users potentially, who might have got fed up with the browser failing to install, and maybe even plumped for Microsoft Edge, its main rival, instead. (Incidentally, Edge is the best overall web browser as far as our roundup of the most compelling offerings out there is concerned).

You might also like

• Microsoft looks to be making a big change to how you install and log in to Windows 11 – and I’m not happy about it at all
• Microsoft gets rid of ‘Edge uninstall’ advice page after facing criticism over it having nothing to do with removing the app, and just promoting the browser instead
• How to use Microsoft Edge

https://ift.tt/TtvZzUE

NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, April 2 (game #395)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, April 1 (game #394).

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 #395) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Shine on

NYT Strands today (game #395) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• DART
• KITE
• MARS
• RATES
• DATA
• SHIP

NYT Strands today (game #395) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 9 letters

NYT Strands today (game #395) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 4th column

Last side: bottom, 3rd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #395) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #395, are…

• DAZZLE
• TWINKLE
• SHIMMER
• SPARKLE
• GLEAM
• RADIATE
• SPANGRAM: STAR POWER

---

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

---

The double-Z of DAZZLE set me on my way today as I ticked off these shine synonyms.

To anyone who is or was a parent the word TWINKLE will have added meaning as a key component of a nursery rhyme intended to lull tiny tots to sleep and also one of the first things learned during music lessons — for these reasons it’s equally nostalgic and irksome.

I’ve always struggled with fact that light from our nearest star system takes over four years to reach us, but then if you knew me this wouldn’t really surprise you, as when the clocks go forward or back I’m in a state of confusion for the rest of the week and constantly ask myself “yes, but what time is it really?”

The fact that the SPARKLE I’m seeing in the night sky is from 2021 hurts my brain almost as much as yesterday’s Connections.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, 1 April, game #394)

• SHOWERS
• BUDS
• ROBINS
• POLLEN
• PUDDLES
• BLOSSOMS
• SPANGRAM: SPRINGTIME

---

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

https://ift.tt/QVvydRB

TikTok ban looms again – what's next for the social media platform, and do we still care?

Remember that time TikTok shut down and disappeared from app stores? It wasn't that long ago. For roughly 12 hours on January 19, TikTok was stripped away from roughly 175M US users only to be saved by a Presidential executive order decree that extended the ban deadline by 75 days. Don't worry; the White House promised we'll have a sale in place by then.

Guess what? While TikTok has multiple suitors, no US company, and certainly not the White House, has purchased any portion of ByteDance's popular social media content-sharing platform.

Throughout this process, ByteDance – a Chinese company – has yet to comment directly on the potential of a sale to a US firm. TikTok's US leadership and its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, have publicly praised President Donald Trump for his intervention but have been mostly silent since then.

In the meantime, TikTok has spent millions on televised ads and infomercial segments touting TikTok's positive impact on people and US businesses, specifically small businesses. The company currently says it has roughly 7.5M businesses on the platform. In a recent economic impact report, TikTok claims small businesses drove $15B in revenue in 2023.

There's no question that TikTok has had a significant impact on US business and, especially, culture (remember the pivotal role it played during COVID?). However, the US climate and appetite for a last-minute save of the social media platform may have shifted since January.

After all, that was the literal dawn of President Trump's second term. Since then, there have been dozens of Executive Orders touching almost every part of American life (including technology; see this AI-related order), and there's a chance consumers may have bigger fish to fry.

Even so, the fate of one of the world's most popular social media platforms does hang in the balance. Here's what we know about what comes next:

I did reach out to the White House, Apple, Google, and TikTok about the current state of negotiations and what might happen if the ban does not get another extension. As of this writing, only Google responded, but it had nothing new to share.

While there have been no public indications of any real progress or movement in the TikTok sale negotiation process, we do know that multiple suitors include:

• Mr Beast
• Perplexity AI
• Oracle
• A consortium that includes Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary
• The White House

Oracle is already managing TikTok's US data, so it might be the leading prospective buyer.

The White House has often been mentioned as acquiring a partial stake in the US-owned version of the company. here are already legal hurdles involved with a sitting President also running a private or non-public-sector business.

Perplexity AI is the most interesting suitor. In a lengthy blog post, the AI search company made an impassioned case for "Rebuilding TikTok in America."

While ByteDance and the White House remain mum on deal details or progress, multiple US senators are still urging the White House to extend the ban postponement to October of this year.

The White House stated this week that a deal would be done before the April 5 deadline but has yet to offer any further details beyond reiterating that there are "lots of potential buyers" and they have "tremendous interest."

What's next?

(Image credit: Future)

If the deal does not happen by then, TikTok could face a new ban, and that might mean the removal not only of TikTok but all of ByteDance's US apps, including Lemon8 and the popular video-editing app CapCut.

Apple and Google removed the apps, and even after the US president extended the ban, they remained unavailable on the app stores for weeks.

Apple did not respond to my request for comment. As I noted above, Google told me it had nothing new to share at this time.

So, the current state of play is that while there's a lot of sale chatter from some major US business players and investors, there is nothing solid. There are not even leaks of a deal being close. All we have is Trump's promises and mostly silence from TikTok and ByteDance.

What this boils down to is that you can't buy something that isn't for sale. ByteDance has never publicly stated that it is open to a sale. TikTok in the US, which has publicly appreciated the extension, may not have control of the situation without a sale agreement from its parent company. TikTok might be out of options.

With five days left, anything could happen, but realistically, it's been almost a year since Former President Joe Biden signed the bill that triggered the ban countdown.

Nothing material has changed, and time is running out.

You might also like

• TikTok Ban live: President Trump signs exec order giving TikTok a penalty-free 75-day extension
• Forget the US TikTok ban – what we need is better social ...
• CapCut hit by US ban – and in completely unrelated news ...

https://ift.tt/goXqndv

NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, April 1 (game #394)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, March 31 (game #393).

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 #394) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… It's a sign!

NYT Strands today (game #394) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• MOSS
• BITE
• BREW
• SHOES
• ROOM
• SLING

NYT Strands today (game #394) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #394) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: bottom, 5th column

Last side: top, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #394) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #394, are…

• SHOWERS
• BUDS
• ROBINS
• POLLEN
• PUDDLES
• BLOSSOMS
• SPANGRAM: SPRINGTIME

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• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

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There are some interesting cultural differences in today’s Strands that make it a little strange for someone from the UK.

ROBINS are something we associate with Christmas, while PUDDLES are a year-round phenomenon thanks to the combination of ceaseless rain, poor drainage and neglected street maintenance.

BLOSSOMS, meanwhile, are a global sign of SPRINGTIME and now, for the few weeks when fruit trees burst into flower, are often accompanied by people taking selfies in front of them.

I initially thought this was a tourist social media thing — over the weekend in London's Hyde Park I cycled past a queue of couples waiting for their turn to take snaps in front of a particularly fine cherry tree — but it’s spread everywhere. If they were in bloom year-round there’d be a lot less fuss.

April also marks the return of wasps and their long-term campaign of terror against the human race.

There are 120,000 different species of wasps in the world (the most common in the US are yellowjackets) and the only place on Earth where they don’t exist is Antarctica – a place where springtime doesn’t happen at all.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, 31 March, game #393)

• ROAN
• DAPPLE
• BUCKSKIN
• CHESTNUT
• PALOMINO
• SPANGRAM: HORSE COLORINGS

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What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

https://ift.tt/dgEaDtM

NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, March 31 (game #393)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 30 (game #392).

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 #393) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… That's an equine of a different shade!

NYT Strands today (game #393) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• LOSS
• LOSE
• LION
• RUNS
• BUSH
• HOOK

NYT Strands today (game #393) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 14 letters

NYT Strands today (game #393) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 5th column

Last side: bottom, 2nd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #393) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #393, are…

• ROAN
• DAPPLE
• BUCKSKIN
• CHESTNUT
• PALOMINO
• SPANGRAM: HORSE COLORINGS

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• My rating: Hard
• My score: 4 hints

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Even with four hints I still struggled with today’s word search. I guess I have spent my entire life ignoring HORSE COLORINGS.

The only color I tapped out with confidence was CHESTNUT and this is only because Chestnut Mare by The Byrds is my fourth favorite song about horses. Give it a listen, it’s quite mad.

My top three, incidentally, are Crazy Horses by The Osmonds (for the giggles), the theme tune to the 1960s TV show White Horses (for the innocence of youth), and Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones (for the melancholy majesty).

Also, as previously discussed, Spangrams that begin in the center of the puzzle are an abomination and should be banned by the international puzzling authorities.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, 30 March, game #392)

• BASS 
• ALTO
• SOPRANO
• TENOR
• TREBLE
• BARITONE
• MEZZO
• SPANGRAM: CHOIR PART

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What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

https://ift.tt/tTHAN6r