NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, July 4 (game #123)

Happy 4th of July to anyone who celebrates! Wherever you are in the world you'll probably find this Strands to be an easy one, but read on if you need help.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Nation celebration

NYT Strands today (game #123) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• FIRE
• GAIN
• CLEAN
• DARE
• SPEND
• PINE

NYT Strands today (game #123) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• 1776

NYT Strands today (game #123) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: bottom, 2nd column

• Last: 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 #123) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #123, are…

• FIREWORKS
• SPARKLER
• PICNIC
• FLAG
• PARADE
• SPANGRAM: INDEPENDENCEDAY

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• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

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Happy 4th of July, everyone! I don't celebrate it myself, because I'm in the UK. No, I'm not still sore that we lost the war of independence, it's just not a thing here. That might have made the game a little harder, but frankly the NYT made it very easy for everyone today.

For one, the spangram is INDEPENDENCE DAY, which takes up a whopping 15 out of the 48 letters on the board. That only left space for five standard answers, and one of them, FIREWORKS, was very easy to find and used another nine.

Secondly, the answers here are not specific to a US celebration – the likes of PARADE and FLAG and SPARKLERs are mainstays of national days everywhere, so picking them off one by one was really not a challenge.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 3 July, game #122)

• CHAIN
• SADDLE
• BRAKE
• FENDER
• KICKSTAND
• PEDAL
• FRAME
• SPANGRAM: BICYCLE

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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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Quordle today – hints and answers for Thursday, July 4 (game #892)

Happy 4th of July to those of you who celebrate. Whether you're celebrating your Quordle puzzle performance today will depend on whether you solve it or not – and I've got some hints for you if you need them.

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 #892) - 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 #892) - 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 #892) - 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 #892) - 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 #892) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• M

• B

• S

• M

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

Quordle today (game #892) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #892, are…

• MIRTH
• BLISS
• SWUNG
• MAUVE

More uncommon words for Quordle today, which has been making a habit recently of packing the board with terms you don't see all that often. None of the four here are truly obscure, but neither MAUVE nor MIRTH tend to be used that often. BLISS, with its repeated S, is also potentially a difficult one.

I played a little more carefully today and managed to solve them with two guesses remaining, but I think my little experiment with two start words may have run its course – I'm still yet to see a benefit over using three. Maybe one more go…

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

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Daily Sequence today (game #892) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #892, are…

• HALVE
• KINKY
• PRISM
• AGILE

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Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #891, Wednesday 3 July: QUOTE, PLUMP, SINGE, SCOWL
• Quordle #890, Tuesday 2 July: YACHT, LODGE, BELLY, COVET
• Quordle #889, Monday 1 July: INCUR, MINTY, LIMIT, SYNOD
• Quordle #888, Sunday 30 June: ALIBI, HYENA, NERVE, KNOWN
• Quordle #887, Saturday 29 June: BASIL, PLAID, REMIT, SHEIK
• Quordle #886, Friday 28 June: SCENE, PRIMO, MOGUL, OPIUM
• Quordle #885, Thursday 27 June: MAXIM, DOWNY, ROUSE, ATOLL
• Quordle #884, Wednesday 26 June: NORTH, LEVER, SERUM, SLATE
• Quordle #883, Tuesday 25 June: APPLY, FUNKY, SWORE, TWEAK
• Quordle #882, Monday 24 June: ANGER, SILKY, HURRY, ANODE
• Quordle #881, Sunday 23 June: SPIED, DIZZY, ABUSE, POPPY
• Quordle #880, Saturday 22 June: GROIN, STOVE, SHRUB, HARSH
• Quordle #879, Friday 21 June: INDEX, CLUED, ORBIT, LOSER
• Quordle #878, Thursday 20 June: DELVE, BEZEL, MAMMA, AZURE
• Quordle #877, Wednesday 19 June: CELLO, PRIVY, HUMOR, PAPER
• Quordle #876, Tuesday 18 June: ABYSS, OCTET, BEEFY, PUPAL
• Quordle #875, Monday 17 June: AWAIT, SHADY, SWEET, DRAPE
• Quordle #874, Sunday 16 June: URBAN, MOIST, SPOOL, BELIE
• Quordle #873, Saturday 15 June: LOGIC, SOOTY, WAGON, BRIDE
• Quordle #872, Friday 14 June: MERIT, RASPY, THOSE, WATER

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Threads is celebrating its birthday with a hidden cake giving away cool new icons

Threads is about to turn one, as Meta’s answer to X (née Twitter), officially hit the scene on July 5, 2023. Zuck sent out a pre-celebration Thread calling out more than 175 million active users on the platform, but another birthday treat is hidden in the app. 

Whether you’re on an iPhone or an Android like a Pixel, Galaxy, or Motorola, there is a new reason to open Threads and visit your profile. Why? You’ll have the opportunity to unlock some custom app icons, and Meta’s gamified the experience like a scratch-off.

Post by @zuck

View on Threads

You want to click on the birthday cake, right?

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Once in the Threads app on Android or iOS, you’ll want to head over to your profile by tapping the person icon in the bottom right corner. From there, you might immediately notice a new birthday cake icon – with a single candle – in between the icon for Instagram and the hamburger menu. It’s right above your profile photo. 

From there, you’ll see a new page in the app proclaiming “Threads in turning one!” The app is celebrating by letting you unlock icons designed by Thread users. 

To unlock, you simply scratch off a shiny, silver icon next to the boring old icon for Threads. On day one, July 3, 2024, you’ll score a unique interpretation of the app logo made by @maxymachen. Once revealed, you can set it as your icon, and there should be four more to unlock later on. At least, there are four blank icons on this page. 

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Additionally, Threads notes that the ability to change your icon won’t last forever, and the functionality will end on July 12, 2024. 

This is certainly a fun way to celebrate a year of Threads, posting your own scratch-off or even rethreading or engaging with someone else's. If you’re keen to score a fresh icon, we’d recommend heading over to the app – make sure you’re running the latest version – and scratch to reveal a new icon each day to eventually win them all.

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Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, July 3 (game #891)

Here's another difficult Quordle puzzle to tackle – or rather, four difficult Quordles to tackle. And then another four in the form of the Daily Sequence. It should all keep you busy for a while!

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 #891) - 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 #891) - 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 #891) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #891) - 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 #891) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• Q

• P

• S

• S

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

Quordle today (game #891) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #891, are…

• QUOTE
• PLUMP
• SINGE
• SCOWL

I'm still working out whether or not a two-start-word strategy has any advantages over a three. Yes, theoretically, it enables me to get a higher score – six rather than seven – but thus far it's been moot, because I'm needing extra guesses to solve each puzzle and have generally had to settle for an eight anyway.

Admittedly, today is a fairly difficult one, with a repeated P in PLUMP and an uncommon Q in QUOTE, and there's no way for me to know whether I would have done better under my old method. But I'm yet to be convinced.

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

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Daily Sequence today (game #891) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #891, are…

• MAXIM
• SULKY
• DUTCH
• FROST

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Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #890, Tuesday 2 July: YACHT, LODGE, BELLY, COVET
• Quordle #889, Monday 1 July: INCUR, MINTY, LIMIT, SYNOD
• Quordle #888, Sunday 30 June: ALIBI, HYENA, NERVE, KNOWN
• Quordle #887, Saturday 29 June: BASIL, PLAID, REMIT, SHEIK
• Quordle #886, Friday 28 June: SCENE, PRIMO, MOGUL, OPIUM
• Quordle #885, Thursday 27 June: MAXIM, DOWNY, ROUSE, ATOLL
• Quordle #884, Wednesday 26 June: NORTH, LEVER, SERUM, SLATE
• Quordle #883, Tuesday 25 June: APPLY, FUNKY, SWORE, TWEAK
• Quordle #882, Monday 24 June: ANGER, SILKY, HURRY, ANODE
• Quordle #881, Sunday 23 June: SPIED, DIZZY, ABUSE, POPPY
• Quordle #880, Saturday 22 June: GROIN, STOVE, SHRUB, HARSH
• Quordle #879, Friday 21 June: INDEX, CLUED, ORBIT, LOSER
• Quordle #878, Thursday 20 June: DELVE, BEZEL, MAMMA, AZURE
• Quordle #877, Wednesday 19 June: CELLO, PRIVY, HUMOR, PAPER
• Quordle #876, Tuesday 18 June: ABYSS, OCTET, BEEFY, PUPAL
• Quordle #875, Monday 17 June: AWAIT, SHADY, SWEET, DRAPE
• Quordle #874, Sunday 16 June: URBAN, MOIST, SPOOL, BELIE
• Quordle #873, Saturday 15 June: LOGIC, SOOTY, WAGON, BRIDE
• Quordle #872, Friday 14 June: MERIT, RASPY, THOSE, WATER
• Quordle #871, Thursday 13 June: NORTH, MOUND, PEACE, RETRY

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NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Wednesday, July 3 (game #122)

I suspect most people will find this to be a nice, easy Strands puzzle – but that doesn't mean everyone will. If you're struggling a little today, read on for some 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 #122) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Spin your wheels

NYT Strands today (game #122) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• BREAK
• FEED
• BEND
• CARE
• STAID
• DATE

NYT Strands today (game #122) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Two wheels good

NYT Strands today (game #122) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: left, 5th row

• Last: 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 #122) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #122, are…

• CHAIN
• SADDLE
• BRAKE
• FENDER
• KICKSTAND
• PEDAL
• FRAME
• SPANGRAM: BICYCLE

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• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

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Like so many people, I rediscovered cycling during lockdown a couple of years ago but even if I hadn't I don't think I'd have struggled with this one. The theme clue didn't do much to disguise matters and as soon as I found CHAIN I was freewheeling towards the finish line. There were no bumps in the road to worry about and I solved the whole thing in about five minutes flat.

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

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Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday 2 July, game #121)

• STEAM
• DEGLAZE
• BRAISE
• FLAMBE
• BLANCH
• POACH
• SIMMER
• SPANGRAM: COOKING

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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.

https://ift.tt/9TiBz2o

Struggling with your broadband? A new internet speed record just hit 402Tbps – fast enough to download a 4K movie in under a millisecond

How fast an internet connection do you really want? Well, that probably varies – based on your needs, not to mention your budget for the monthly payment – but odds are you might regard 402Tbps as overkill.

Yes, we didn’t mistype that – 402Tbps, as in Terabytes – and as you might guess, that staggering speed is a new world record for the fastest-ever performance achieved via a standard (commercially available) fiber optic cable.

The 402Tbps speed was hit by a team from Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), as Fudzilla reports. It was realized using a 50km length of fiber and a whole bunch of clever trickery including six signal amplifiers to pep things up (quite considerably).

The NICT explains: “Novel optical gain equalizers also allowed access to new wavelength bands that are not yet utilized in deployed systems.”

402Tbps works out at downloading just over 50TB every second, no less, and easily outguns the previous high speed by around 25%.

The NICT further observes: “These results show the potential of ultra-wideband transmission, enabled by a new amplifier and wideband spectrum-shaping technology to increase the information carrying capability of new and deployed optical fibers.”

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Analysis: Downloads in the blink of an eye

Of course, such technology is a million miles away from being deployed on a consumer level. However, what this does show is how fast technology is progressing in yet another respect, and that we might get stupidly speedy downloads along these kinds of lines eventually, topping our rankings of the best broadband lines out there.

This sort of performance would allow for, say, the downloading of a full 4K movie in under a millisecond (or maybe a touch over, if it’s a particularly long film). Or you could grab massive game installs like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Starfield in around 3ms or so.

Snappy doesn’t even begin to cover it, and we’ve certainly come a long way since the days of Quake and playing online via a 56K dial-up modem (when we desperately envied those who were lucky enough to be able to afford 64K ISDN and its comparatively supreme stability, packet loss-wise).

Via PC Gamer

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Quordle today – hints and answers for Tuesday, July 2 (game #890)

Today's Quordle is another fairly tough one – so you may well want some hints to help you solve it. If that's the case, simply scroll down for my clues.

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 #890) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #890) - 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 #890) - 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 #890) - 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 0.

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 #890) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• Y

• L

• B

• C

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

Quordle today (game #890) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #890, are…

• YACHT
• LODGE
• BELLY
• COVET

I remain undecided about the new strategy I'm employing, which involves using two start words rather than the three I was previously beginning with. However, it may be that I just haven't chosen the right letters. Today, for instance, I sorely missed the Y that would have been included in my old strategy; it led YACHT and ended BELLY, and made the task all the harder.

As a result, it took me eight guesses today, which is no better (and possibly worse) than my standard score. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

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

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Daily Sequence today (game #890) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #890, are…

• ABODE
• LUNAR
• TUMOR
• SPICE

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Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #889, Monday 1 July: INCUR, MINTY, LIMIT, SYNOD
• Quordle #888, Sunday 30 June: ALIBI, HYENA, NERVE, KNOWN
• Quordle #887, Saturday 29 June: BASIL, PLAID, REMIT, SHEIK
• Quordle #886, Friday 28 June: SCENE, PRIMO, MOGUL, OPIUM
• Quordle #885, Thursday 27 June: MAXIM, DOWNY, ROUSE, ATOLL
• Quordle #884, Wednesday 26 June: NORTH, LEVER, SERUM, SLATE
• Quordle #883, Tuesday 25 June: APPLY, FUNKY, SWORE, TWEAK
• Quordle #882, Monday 24 June: ANGER, SILKY, HURRY, ANODE
• Quordle #881, Sunday 23 June: SPIED, DIZZY, ABUSE, POPPY
• Quordle #880, Saturday 22 June: GROIN, STOVE, SHRUB, HARSH
• Quordle #879, Friday 21 June: INDEX, CLUED, ORBIT, LOSER
• Quordle #878, Thursday 20 June: DELVE, BEZEL, MAMMA, AZURE
• Quordle #877, Wednesday 19 June: CELLO, PRIVY, HUMOR, PAPER
• Quordle #876, Tuesday 18 June: ABYSS, OCTET, BEEFY, PUPAL
• Quordle #875, Monday 17 June: AWAIT, SHADY, SWEET, DRAPE
• Quordle #874, Sunday 16 June: URBAN, MOIST, SPOOL, BELIE
• Quordle #873, Saturday 15 June: LOGIC, SOOTY, WAGON, BRIDE
• Quordle #872, Friday 14 June: MERIT, RASPY, THOSE, WATER
• Quordle #871, Thursday 13 June: NORTH, MOUND, PEACE, RETRY
• Quordle #870, Wednesday 12 June: QUILT, PARTY, SPARK, SINCE

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