IT General

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you have a sweet tooth.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games 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 today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable 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.

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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.

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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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for September 5, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Shaky

• Green: Animal sounds

• Blue: You hit the nail

• Purple: Sweet treats

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Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Move unsteadily

• Green: Bird onomatopoeia

• Blue: ___ head

• Purple: Desserts minus last letter

Play our Big Guessing Game: Make your predictions now for a chance to win a new Apple Watch. Time's running out!

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 #1178 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Move unsteadily: SWAY, TODDLE, TOTTER, WOBBLE

• Bird onomatopoeia: COO, GOBBLE, HONK, WARBLE

• ___ head: BOBBLE, HAMMER, JUG, SLEEPY

• Desserts minus last letter: COBBLE, PI, TAR, TORT

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a bad cook.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for September 5, 2026 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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for September 5, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Watery.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

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Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.

Play our Big Guessing Game: Make your predictions now for a chance to win a new Apple Watch. Time's running out!

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...

SOUPY

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.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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.

Every morning, I open the same apps and then spend the next few minutes dragging, resizing, and rearranging them across my two monitors. By the afternoon, everything has shifted again. I was getting tired of rebuilding the same desktop layouts, so I went looking for a better way. Then I found an easy-to-use PowerToys tool: Workspaces.

For the past couple of years, I've done most of my published writing from my phone. I know how weird most people find this, so I thought I'd try a traditional desktop PC.

Most of us have an old bookshelf speaker, soundbar, or Bluetooth speaker lying around somewhere. They still sound good, the problem is that they're not very "smart."

I miss the good old days when you had to queue for a movie, lining up outside the theater and passing the Now Showing posters which would get you excited about what you were about to see. I wanted to build something similar for Jellyfin using a cheap ESP32 display.

Nvidia is slowly lifting the veil from the first PCs with its RTX Spark chip, and it's now clearer what they can do. I had the opportunity to demo several computers from Asus, Dell, Microsoft, and other brands at IFA 2026, and they promise to transform computing — although some big questions remain.

Four of the best series to watch on Netflix this weekend came to the service in a 50/50 split—two from the back end of August, and two newbies just dying to make an impact on the Netflix Top 10.

Tesla threw a flashy party on Thursday to announce the start of its autonomous Cybercab service in Austin, but some of the wind was taken out of the company's sails when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced an investigation into the Cybercabs almost immediately after the launch.

Tesla’s Cybercabs are gold-covered robotaxis that seat two riders; the Cabs offer a luxe, roomy experience thanks to butterfly doors, a large Grok-enabled video screen, and the absence of a steering wheel and gas and brake pedals. The omission of the pedals and wheel is exactly why the NHTSA is looking into the Cybercabs, as the agency requires autonomous vehicles to have those back-up controls. 

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The Department of Transportation is considering dropping that requirement, and recently allowed Amazon-owned Zoox vehicles to operate without a wheel and pedals — but only after years of review and requests for information. Before they began offering rides, both Zoox and Cybercabs self-certified that their driverless cars complied with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

SEE ALSO: Waymo is launching its robotaxi in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa

"In the U.S., NHTSA establishes clear vehicle performance requirements," the agency stated in its investigation announcement. "In order for automakers to access the U.S. market, they must certify that their vehicles meet these standards – subject to oversight from the agency to confirm compliance. When certified vehicles appear to not adhere to these requirements, NHTSA conducts an investigation."

It’s unclear whether the NHTSA’s investigation, which it calls an audit query, will severely slow Cybercabs' expansion into markets beyond Austin. The Trump administration indicated that it is trying to balance a push for more autonomous technology with regular safety concerns. 

"NHTSA fully supports the safe development and deployment of automated vehicles. But as the federal regulator, we need to ensure that all of our laws are followed," NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a statement. "Our approach of balancing innovation with safety oversight will allow the United States to maintain its global leadership in AV innovation."

When someone new comes over, one of the first questions I get is why in the world I have a random laptop plugged into my router. Depending on how tech-savvy they are, my answer usually ranges from "Oh, it’s just for movies" to "This is my home server, and here's what it does." So, here’s why I actually keep a decade-old laptop running next to my router.

Fall 2: Deadpoint is an unusual sequel in that the heroes of the previous film aren't at the center. As thoroughly detailed in our Fall ending explainer, only one of the two besties who climbed a 2,000-foot pole made it back to terra firma alive. And she only makes a brief appearance in the second film. However, Fall 2: Deadpoint does follow closely to the structure of the first film… until it doesn't. 

If you're wondering about that ending, we've got you covered. 

What is Fall 2: Deadpoint about? 

The sequel, written by Fall screenwriters Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank, focuses on Jax (Harriet Slater), the younger sister of the late Shiloh Hunter (Virginia Gardner). 

Jax is spiraling not only from grief but also from the surreal experience of seeing Shiloh (who was most often called Hunter in the first film) become posthumously famous as #fallgirl. But a college friend of her sister's, Luce (Arsema Thomas), has a radical plan for coping with such big emotions: Do a big, risky climb in Shiloh/Hunter's name. 

Why is it called Fall 2: Deadpoint? Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas co-star in "Fall 2: Deadpoint." Credit: Lionsgate Credit: Lionsgate

Well, aside from the macabre tone the sequel's subtitle sets up, "deadpoint" is a climbing term. Paradigm Climbing describes a deadpoint as "the moment a climber's vertical or lateral velocity reaches zero, before reversing direction." 

Where does Fall 2: Deadpoint follow Fall?  Harriet Slater plays Jax in "Fall 2: Deadpoint." Credit: Lionsgate

Both films center on two young women who take on a perilously high climb in an attempt to overcome a past trauma. In Fall, Hunter urges Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) to climb the radio tower to get over the death of her husband (Mason Gooding), who died on her last cliffside climb. In Fall 2: Deadpoint, Jax and Luce climb a plank walk, 4,000 feet above sea level (so, twice as high as Hunter and Becky went). This trek is on the face of Thailand's Mount Kwan, and is said to end before a statue of a death dragon that will "eat your fears." 

Luce gets the idea for this particular adventure from Hunter's "fuck-it list," a scrapbook where she plotted out the stunts and climbs she'd perform for her online followers. This leads her and Jax to a bar in Thailand. There, the codename "Icarus on the rocks" (not a good omen) connects them with a non-native guide named Jon (Tom Brittney), who agrees to take them on the illegal climb for a steep fee that Luce says she'll cover. On top of the dangers of falling, this trek is more dangerous still because of reported rock slides. And then there's the added dangers around drug smugglers and the authorities determined to crack down on them and their mules. 

Much of that is added sequel flare. But Fall 2 hits some very familiar story points. Like Becky and Hunter before them, Jax and Luce see a vulture feeding on carrion in an ominous sign before their climb. They are warned they might suffer from "mountain bends," a version of altitude sickness that Jon says could cause "headaches, hallucinations, nausea, and worse." 

Once trapped on the mountain, they too will be trapped by a crumbling man-made artifice. In this case, a rock slide shatters the planks, leaving Luce and Jax stranded 4,0000 feet up. As for Jon, he goes missing during their scramble to dodge the falling rocks.

Then, like Becky and Hunter, the women will find their backpack of necessary provisions just out of reach. The steps to recover it might well give audiences flashbacks to Hunter's attempt to reclaim a backpack in Fall. And then there's actual flashbacks, giving backstory to Jax and Shiloh's dysfunctional sister bond.

Like her sister did in Fall, Jax will use a video recording device to try to find someone on the ground that can help rescue them. And once more, that won't be what does save them.

But, there will be a big twist, where the person who proposed the trip admits to a brutal betrayal of their companion.

What's the twist in Fall 2: Deadpoint?  Arsema Thomas takes a hard fall in "Fall 2: Deadpoint." Credit: Lionsgate

While Jax is Hunter's sister, it's Luce that follows in her footsteps. She has struggles that recall the events that led to Hunter's fatal fall, including an injury to her upper limbs while trying to recover the backpack. From there, audiences might well anticipate that Jax is having an experience like Becky's, having witnessed her friend's death and hallucinating the fallen friend surviving to get her to the end of the path. But Fall 2: Deadpoint's big twist is not that! 

The personal twist comes when Jax watches old footage from Hunter's video recorder of a group hang with Luce. That's when she (and we) learns the Luce she knows isn't the real Luce. Her name is Billie, and she'd never met Hunter. But after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, she found inspiration in Hunter's videos, which had a carpe diem vivacity. She's a fan.

When Billie saw Jax was selling Hunter's recovered vehicle, she wanted to buy it. But Jax didn't want to sell to a fan, so Jax did some light social media stalking and learned Hunter had a Black friend named Luce. She lied about her identity to buy the car, but then felt genuinely connected to Jax. So, she proposed the trip. 

Like Hunter, Billie was deceitful to her climbing partner. In the first film, Hunter's big reveal was she'd been sleeping with Becky's husband before his death. But Luce is not a hallucination. However, she will fall to her death all the same. 

How does Fall 2: Deadpoint end?  Tom Brittney plays Jon in "Fall 2: Deadpoint." Credit: Lionsgate

With Jon's talk about the necessity for the small oxygen tanks to prevent mountain bends, Mann and Frank set up the potential to retread the hallucination twist. However, ultimately, their script pivots to a more Hollywood action ending.

After attempts to get help have failed, Jax and Billie are surprisingly rescued by Jon, who helps them scurry up to safety. Viewers might well doubt that this is really happening, even as the reunited trio proceeds to the death dragon statue as if this were a happy ending. But then comes a new twist; after they cross a dizzyingly precarious rope bridge, the women learn that Jon was using them as unaware drug mules for fentanyl. 

He'd stored the drugs in the O2 tanks, which each client carried. He said he wasn't carrying one because he was essentially immune to mountain bends. But in truth, he knew the stiff penalties he'd incur should he be caught with drugs on him. Yet the jail time in a Thai prison would be nothing compared to what the dealers would do if Jon failed them again. He shows Jax he's already had two fingers severed for failing in his drug runs. One more failure, he warns, and they'd take his head. This is why he came back — for the drugs, not the girls. Still, he was planning to get them picked up in a helicopter and flown to safety. But he tells Jax that the price of that ride is a package of drugs. 

This lesson comes too late for Billie. She's so outraged by Jon's deception that she hollers at him and pitches her tank off the mountain. He's so incensed by this that he shoves her to her death. From there, Jax and Jon fight, which pitches them back onto that flimsy bridge. And ultimately, he'll fall (too), while Jax will get to the mountaintop, securing a ride home by handing over the drugs. 

Will there be a Fall 3?  Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas co-star in "Fall 2: Deadpoint." Credit: Lionsgate

The ending of Fall 2: Deadpoint suggests so! 

Having survived the "Icarus on the rocks" of it all, Jax turns the page of the fuck-it list to another Hunter-planned adventure. This time, it seems she wants to go with Becky.

In the film's ending, Becky visits to her mailbox to find an invite for a memorial of Hunter. Naturally, it'll be a treacherous location. The music seems ominous, which might lead the audience to wonder: Is Jax looking to bury the hatchet with Becky? Or is she looking to confront her sister's childhood friend about her resentments and how Becky's last trip with Hunter led to the latter's death (and being treated like a DIY phone protector)? 

We'll have to wait and see. 

Fall 2: Deadpoint is now in theaters.

I'm forever creating dashboards in Excel, and while I get a lot of satisfaction from it, that's part of the problem. I end up going down a rabbit hole, adding more charts, and then wondering whether I left anything out. There's no handbook for creating a dashboard in Excel, as every dataset is different. So I decided to let Gemini do the decision-making for me.

Cassettes, CDs, even vinyls (despite their recent resurgence in popularity) — physical media that you can hold and confidently pronounce as yours has unfortunately become a rarity in the modern world. The digital landscape is one of temporary consumption and conditional ownership, and convenience alone can't make up for the downsides.

The team behind Tetris, the classic 1984 puzzle video game, has responded to the White House over a knockoff game that the Trump administration released this week.

The statement from Tetris hits back against Trump's White House over its recently released Tetris clone, "Build the Wall." In its response, Tetris strongly hints that the company will "take copyright infringement very seriously."

"At Tetris, we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them," Tetris said in a statement posted to its official accounts on Instagram and X. "To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community."

The Tetris spoof was one of five games released by the White House on Thursday on a new government website address Arcade.gov. The playable web games are all clones of classic titles overlaid with different themes that promote Trump's policies. For example, "Build the Wall" pushes an anti-immigration agenda, urging players to "protect the border from the coming horde."

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The Tetris team amended their statement graphic with a few postscripts as well.

"P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of 'Build the Wall'," they said. "P.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously."

Tetris isn't the first to push back against an association with Trump and float potential legal action. Countless musical artists have issued DMCA takedowns or cease-and-desists to Trump over the years for the use of their songs at his rallies or in campaign media.

Just last year, Pokémon Company International issued a statement distancing itself from a video posted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that used its intellectual property to promote the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

"Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property," the Pokémon Company said at the time.

Do you have a fast internet connection, but your Windows PC often feels slower than it should? Have you already tried switching your DNS providers and other internet speed optimization hacks, but still no luck? Well, I’ve been in the same place you are — and after some digging around, I found that a few background apps and processes were causing the problem. Here’s how to find out if that’s happening on your PC and how to stop it for good.

Your desk is your command station, and no command station is complete without the right equipment. Make yours even better with an ESP32, some extra components, and these easy-to-follow build guides that add fun and useful toys and accessories to your desktop.

Anybody who has set up a new Windows PC for development knows the tedium—spending the first few hours installing tools, muting distractions, changing File Explorer settings, and configuring Linux support. Microsoft’s Project Zenith is designed to make that ritual obsolete. It is a ready-to-code Windows 11 experience that ships pre-configured instead of a blank-slate install.

SSD prices are higher than ever due to the ongoing NAND flash shortage, which makes both your existing NVMes and any future upgrades a serious investment. When you’re spending big money on a 4TB or 8TB drive, the last thing you want is heat quietly shortening its lifespan.

As I occasionally torture myself with checking GPU prices at various retailers, I'm well aware of the fact that GPUs are, indeed, still massively overpriced. Shocker.

Earlier this week, three young men with little climbing experience set out to summit Mt. Shasta, a 14,179-foot peak in California.

Their planned eight-hour ascent ultimately turned into a search-and-rescue operation and drew national attention for one reason: The men used artificial intelligence to help plan their climb.

"We relied too much on AI rather than our own critical thinking," the men reportedly said, according to a detailed account of the failed summit posted on Facebook by the U.S. Forest Service - Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

SEE ALSO: Reminder: Don't use Google Maps for hiking

Still, AI itself didn't doom their trip, National Forest Service lead climbing ranger Nick Meyers told Mashable.

Instead, the hikers' plans were like "Swiss cheese," riddled with holes. That meant challenges compounded along the way until their situation escalated into an emergency. Their reliance on AI, YouTube videos, and the mobile mapping app AllTrails to plan and complete their climb turned their journey into a disaster.

Meyers, who is also the director of the Mt. Shasta Avalanche Center, said AI-related incidents on Mt. Shasta have "started to become a thing" this year as visitors have received incorrect information from AI. However, this is the first incident to involve 911 and a rescue, he noted.

"I think AI can be a great tool," Meyers told Mashable. "But I think when you're talking about entering into a risky environment, especially with nature, talk to a real person, or at least just fact-check the information you might get from AI."

How the hikers' summit plans fell apart

Meyers said AI correctly told the men that the summit should take eight hours. Per AI's guidance, they took enough food and water for that duration. It's unclear if AI suggested bringing additional supplies in case of an emergency.

Meanwhile, AI also recommended they eat simple carbs instead of fats because those "take too long to digest." Mountaineers, meanwhile, know fats can sustain long climbs that burn thousands of calories. Still, Meyers conceded, at least they had food.

What the men didn't account for was their own pace. Their ascent took double the anticipated time: 16 hours.

At two different points on their ascent, the group paused to consider turning back but decided to keep going despite "not feeling great."

Meyers said that their "mountain sense was just sort of lacking."

Navigation failures add up

The hikers also relied on AllTrails to navigate, but the phone battery died by the time they summited at 7 p.m. Their backup battery charger didn't work on the phone with the mapping app, which meant they mostly had to navigate by sight on their descent.

"If I knew I was at the top of a 14,000-foot peak, and I was going to be descending in the dark, you better believe I want to be keeping an eye on my battery so that I can use my map," Meyers said. "That was poor decision making."

Meyers noted that some hikers on Mt. Shasta make questionable choices when affected by exhaustion and altitude.

Rescuing the hikers

By 8 p.m. the hikers called 911 for directions. Soon after, at 11,500 feet, one of the hikers fell and injured his knee. Though he had a headlamp, he wanted to conserve its battery and relied on the light from his friends' headlamps.

At midnight, the group stopped to camp but had no food, water, warm clothes, or an emergency shelter.

Forest Service climbing rangers reached the group the next morning, at 9:30 a.m. Meyers wasn't in that party as he was coordinating a potential helicopter rescue from elsewhere.

In the end, the helicopter couldn't reach the hikers because of strong winds. The hikers, along with the climbing rangers, finally reached basecamp at 3 p.m. Siskiyou Search and Rescue members helped the group reach their trailhead, a trip that took an additional three hours.

Meyers said the Forest Service tries to use "the minimum means necessary" to get people off the mountain: "It's a tremendous amount of effort and resources to respond to a rescue."

'Breaking the unwritten rules' of climbing

Chris Carr, co-owner of Shasta Mountain Guides, said he's been "shocked and surprised" by how many hikers he's recently observed on Mt. Shasta making poor decisions and "breaking the unwritten rules" of climbing. That included people climbing without proper equipment and proceeding to the summit late in the afternoon, guaranteeing a descent in the dark.

He urges prospective climbers to know the "ten essentials" of mountaineering.

"Without a doubt, we are definitely seeing more people less prepared for this activity," Carr told Mashable.

He said perhaps more climbers have developed false confidence. Technology, he added, contributes to that because the "supercomputers in our pocket" can create a false sense of security.

Carr said if people consult AI to plan a trip like summiting Mt. Shasta, they should use it to identify the best resources for more information.

For Mt. Shasta, as an example, that could include calling a local outfitter or contacting the National Forest Service. Climbing rangers will talk to climbers about their trip. The National Forest Service website provides comprehensive information on what to know about climbing Mt. Shasta.

"It's good to feel the power of Mother Nature because it puts you in your place very quickly," Carr said. "I think many of us are removed from that and think that technology and equipment and all these advantages of modern age can get us through, where really we become very small, very vulnerable, very quickly."