IT General

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's The Mini crossword answers for March 2 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: Settings you can put your phone on

• Green: Escaping or avoiding

• Blue: "W" in different contexts

• Purple: Words that can precede "string"

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Cellphone Modes

• Green: Evade

• Blue: What "W" Might Stand For

• Purple: ___String

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 #630 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Cellphone Modes: AIRPLANE, DO NOT DISTURB, RING, VIBRATE

• Evade: DODGE, ESCAPE, LOSE, SHAKE

• What "W" Might Stand For: TUNGSTEN, WATT, WEST, WIN

• ___String: DRAW, HAM, HEART, SHOE

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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 2

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 the latest Connections.

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 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 today: Hints and answers for March 2 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's The Mini crossword answers for March 2, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A divine figure worshipped in mythology or religion.

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 D.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. 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...

DEITY.

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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 2

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 the latest Wordle.

TL;DR: Live stream Panthers vs. Sharks in the 2025 NRL for free on 9Now. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Penrith Panthers are kicking off their NRL title defense against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, but in unfamiliar territory. Las Vegas is hosting this first-round fixture between two strong sides, with fans desperate to catch the likes of Nathan Cleary and Addin Fonua-Blake in action.

If you want to watch Panthers vs. Sharks in the 2025 NRL for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Panthers vs. Sharks?

Panthers vs. Sharks in the 2025 NRL starts at 3:30 p.m. AEDT on March 2. This fixture takes place at the Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas.

How to watch Panthers vs. Sharks for free

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While Samsung's flagship phones are always the company's most impressive, most people look at the mid-range phones and the budget phones instead. If you've been waiting up to see what Samsung has in store for the lower ranks, it's all finally here, and it looks great.

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Your monitor is one of the most critical parts of your gaming setup, so optimizing it for the best experience is important. However, with so many confusing settings, it can get a little overwhelming. That's why I created this checklist to help you get the best experience possible.

Any app can help you be productive if you know how to use it wisely. One app that always makes its way into my productivity folder is YouTube. Here is how I use YouTube (and often, my Premium subscription) to boost my focus while I work.

The Joy-Cons on the Nintendo Switch are highly versatile controllers until they go wrong. Joy-Con drift can render them unusable, but it's not the only way they can fail. When vital buttons on one of my Joy-Cons stopped working, I managed to find a way to use it again by remapping the controller.

Samsung's latest Galaxy S25 series has several display-related features that can either make or break your experience. To help you explore them, here are the 10 most important settings you should tweak to get the most out of your Galaxy S25's display.

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Working from home has its perks, but staying organized can be tough. Enter Microsoft PowerToys—a powerful toolkit designed to tailor your Windows setup to fit your workflow seamlessly. It’s your secret weapon for working smarter, not harder.

I've been using an iPhone as my daily driver for over three years. Over time, enabling and disabling connectivity options like mobile data, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth became habitual via a single tap. iOS 18 changed this, and not for good, so I had to fix it.

I have been using PlayStation Plus Premium for a while now and I love the benefits of online multiplayer and a ready-to-go game catalog. Still, I have noticed some missing features that could make it better.

Samsung's Galaxy S25 lineup is one of the most feature-rich Android smartphones on the market. While that works in the favor of the handsets, it also means that you can face trouble in keeping track of all its capabilities. To elevate your experience, here's a list of 15 hidden Galaxy S25 tips and tricks.

The best ergonomic keyboards reduce strain on your hands, wrists, and arms. They help lower the risk of repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) by letting you type in a more natural position, thanks to features like split layouts, curved designs, and palm rests.

Thrilled. Perhaps that’s exactly how you also felt back when you were unboxing the brand-new AirPods in 2016. At that time, it was Apple’s latest innovation that had just hit the market. I was itching to get my hands on them. But my enthusiasm has waned.

Yakuza is a long-running franchise celebrated for its unique blend of intense drama, whimsical humor, and everything in between. The latest entry, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, continues the tradition by unapologetically embracing its identity as an entertaining and self-aware video game.

Ubuntu 25.04 is almost upon us, which makes this a good time to look back at just how much Canonical's popular Linux desktop has changed over the past ten years. The answer? Both more and less than you might expect.

Surrounding the Andromeda galaxy, three dozen tiny galaxies aren't behaving the way scientists expected. 

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained on Andromeda for a deep dive into how its orbiting satellite galaxies formed and changed over time. What they found revealed a population of dwarf galaxies that are quite unlike the ones circling the Milky Way. 

Some 2.5 million light-years away, these space neighborhoods formed the bulk of their stars long ago. But rather than halting production, as computer simulations would suggest, they continued slowly making new stars out of a stockpile of gas.

"Star formation really continued to much later times, which is not at all what you would expect for these dwarf galaxies," said Alessandro Savino, an astronomer at UC Berkeley, in a statement. "No one knows what to make of that so far."

SEE ALSO: A tiny galaxy ceased making stars for billions of years. Then it rebooted. Hubble captured a bird's eye view of the known dwarf galaxies orbiting the large Andromeda galaxy. These 36 smaller satellites are circled in yellow. Credit: NASA / ESA / Alessandro Savino / Joseph DePasquale / Akira Fujii DSS2

In the past, scientists primarily observed dwarf galaxies near the Milky Way, but they were never sure whether those were representative of others in the universe. That's why they pointed Hubble, which orbits Earth, at the closest large galaxy, which has its own bevy of satellite galaxies.

The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, is based on observations from over 1,000 telescope orbits. The sweeping science campaign allowed astronomers to build a detailed 3D map of Andromeda's 36 dwarf galaxies and reconstruct how they made new stars over the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. The images have provided a unique bird' s-eye view of Andromeda and its environment.

In addition to the dwarf galaxies' prolonged star-bearing years, scientists were surprised to find that half were sitting on the same plane and moving in the same direction. However, mergers and collisions usually result in objects traveling in inconsistent directions.

"That's weird," said Daniel Weisz, the principal investigator at UC Berkeley, in a statement. "It was actually a total surprise to find the satellites in that configuration, and we still don't fully understand why they appear that way." 

Astronomers have learned that galaxies tend to start out small and grow larger by collecting gas and merging with other galaxies. But most dwarf galaxies that made stars before the so-called Epoch of Reionization never got back to business after. Reionization was an era of major transition that occurred more than 13 billion years ago.  It was when the baby universe transformed from a neutral state to one filled with free electrons and protons. 

The above animation gives a fly-around view of the Andromeda galaxy and its surrounding dwarf galaxies, based on Hubble data. 

Because most of the tiny galaxies turned off their star-making activity in the first few billion years of the universe, many scientists have thought reionization was the reason. However, some researchers are calling that idea into question. 

Astronomers suspect Andromeda had a major collision with another galaxy relatively recently, perhaps 2 to 5 billion years ago. The Milky Way, on the other hand, probably hasn't had a run-in with another galaxy for 8 to 10 billion years. Andromeda's collision — and its more massive scale — could explain the galaxy's exotic and diverse satellite system.

The study has only deepened the team's speculation that dwarf galaxies aren't all like the ones close to home. They can have a wide range of fates, the researchers posit, and it'll take more observations to ascertain why. 

"Everything scattered in the Andromeda system is very asymmetric and perturbed. It does appear that something significant happened not too long ago," Weisz said. "Our work has shown that low-mass galaxies in other ecosystems have followed different evolutionary paths than what we know from the Milky Way satellite galaxies."

This was a busy week in the tech world, from Framework revealing its new compact desktop PC to Microsoft's announcement of Skype's shutdown. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.