Mashable

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 8, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for June 8, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for June 8 Pips

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically; 6-1, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically; 5-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (1): Everything in this space must be less than 1. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for June 8 Pips

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally; 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 1-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (8): Everything in this space must be greater than 8. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 5-1, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (0): Everything in this space must be greater than 0. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for June 8 Pips

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally; 1-1, placed horizontally; 1-0, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this purple space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-3, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically; 4-0, placed vertically; 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this purple space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-0, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this green space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this purple space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally; 6-0, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically; 2-2, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Part of a movie.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

SCENE

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Spacious.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 8, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

ROOMY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Strength.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 8 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 8, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

BRAWN

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Computer-related.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

CYBER

Final Hurdle hint

A way to prepare a fish.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

FILET

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

The Vampire Lestat is handing the mic to its titular monster, who's ready to let his story rip with a string of rock 'n' roll songs. 

With Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire, showrunner Rolin Jones brings back such beloved characters as Louis (Jacob Anderson), Armand (Assad Zaman), and newbie vampire Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). But Lestat's (Sam Reid) story also introduces a new slew of characters. 

If you haven't read the Anne Rice novels on which this series is based, or just can't recall the finer points, here's a rundown of who's who in The Vampire Lestat. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat' review: 'Interview With the Vampire' Season 3 delivers sex, blood, and a rock 'n' roll odyssey Who is Satan's Night Out?  Sam Reid is Lestat. Credit: AMC

The four-piece Montreal-based rock band features guitarist Larry (Noah Reid), his younger, more talented straight-edged brother Alex (Seamus Patterson), their "dumb" bassist Salamander (Ryan Kattner), and their drummer TC (Sarah Swire), who was called Tough Cookie in Rice's novel. 

Once they meet Lestat on Halloween, they become his band, and they're renamed The Vampire Lestat. As far as they know, the band is building on a character created by Daniel Molloy's book, Interview with the Vampire, which the world assumed was fiction. They don't know until the fang fight at Dracula's Daughter hotel that Lestat really is a vampire. 

Who is Baby Jenks? 

In Anne Rice's novels, Baby Jenks was 14 when she was turned into a vampire, courtesy of Killer, leader of the Fang Gang. 

In The Vampire Lestat, Baby Jenks (played by 24-year-old Ella Ballentine) seems to have been considerably aged up, much as Claudia was for Season 1 of Interview with a Vampire. For one thing, the rock show she's at doesn't seem to be all-ages. And after having group sex in the elevator with Lestat, she chipperly announces she's getting married next week. 

With her cheery attitude, party drugs, and weird soul-bond with Lestat, this is a very different Baby Jenks than the one in Rice's novels. But considering Lestat's already had a brush with the Fang Gang in Detroit, we can assume that we'll see her again. 

Who are the Fang Gang? 

In the show, Lestat writes them off as "regional vampires," who are flexing because they don't like his songs spilling the secrets of their kind. 

However, when they attack him in the halls of Dracula's Daughter, they reveal they see themselves as “The Children of the Darkness reborn." Essentially, this grubby gang embraces Armand's ancient rules about how to be a vampire. One of them even has a tattoo that reads "Armand Told the Truth," which spurs Lestat to scream in frustration, "What does that mean?!" 

When he refuses to come meet their coven's leader (who could be the aforementioned Killer from the books), the Fang Gang ambushes Lestat with the goal of killing him. But vampires Daniel and Sam, formerly of the theater and now a DJ, intervene, killing the lot.

However, with Baby Jenks in play, we suspect we'll see more of the Fang Gang soon. 

Who is Gabriella?  Jennifer Ehle is Gabriella in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC

In the books, she's Gabrielle de Lioncourt, the doting mother of Lestat. In the show, she's played by Jennifer Ehle, and is the "toi" that Lestat has been texting Heated Rivalry-style. He beckons her to come to him as his tour tromps him across the U.S., and in the final scene of "Detroit," she does in more ways than one. 

As you can see from this episode, the pair are close. Like troublingly close. As Lestat puts it, she is his "fledgling. Lover. Mother." 

And now, just as the muses are set loose by his music, and he's forced to confront 265 years of his past, she's back. What will that mean for Lestat, Louis, and their fanged circle of friends and foes? We can't wait to see. 

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

The Vampire Lestat reintroduces Anne Rice's epic Brat Prince as a rock star on the rise. Told from Lestat's perspective, Interview with the Vampire Season 3 is a wild ride, full of sex, violence, and allusions to other art and artists.

Show creator Rolin Jones is dropping some inspiration points for the scorching soundtrack that includes songs from composer Daniel Hart, like "Long Face," "All Fall Down," "Black Licorice," and "Your Biggest Fan."

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only – LIVE': Everything you should know

But beyond that, Lestat (Sam Reid) and his band's actions mirror some real rock-star behavior. Let's dive in.

Lestat's auction is part Banksy, part Wu-Tang Clan.

The odd auction that opens the show begins with an auctioneer presenting two lots, each featuring recordings from The Vampire Lestat. Then, he sets the first on fire, destroying its contents.

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat': Let’s talk about that auction

This shocking scene is reminiscent of the auction in 2018, when a paper version of Banksy's "Girl with Balloon" was on the block at Sotheby's. After the gavel came down, declaring the sale price at $1.4 million dollars, the painted paper slid into a hidden shredder at the bottom of the frame, destroying its bottom half.

Sotheby's insisted they had no idea that was going to happen, and the buyer — who remained anonymous — opted to keep the painting, though it was partially shredded. Retitled Love Is in the Bin, the piece was re-auctioned in 2021, and sold for roughly $25 million.

In The Vampire Lestat, the auction's second lot includes "a singular vinyl pressing of The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt." The only recording of Lestat's works can be purchased for a hefty sum.

That reminded us of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the Wu-Tang Clan album that was only ever pressed onto one two-CD set, which was auctioned off in 2015. The winner of that auction was rat-faced pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli, who paid $2 million for it. However, in 2018, Shkreli's conviction for securities fraud led to the U.S. Government confiscating the album, which was sold as part of the forfeiture money judgement against him.

Lestat has René Magritte's The Lovers in his home.

Since Louis (Jacob Anderson) found Lestat in a decaying house in New Orleans last season, the blond bombshell cleaned up and moved onto to a posh neighborhood in Montréal. While he talks to Louis over FaceTime, a wide shot of his home shows René Magritte's The Lovers on the wall.

The 1928 painting is part of a series the Belgian surrealist did. It features two figures, one in a black suit and the other in a pink, sleeveless blouse, kissing. But their heads are entirely covered in a white cloth.

It's a piece of art that is sexy and mysterious. But it can be read as a painting that depicts a fear of true intimacy.

Lestat stays at a hotel called Dracula's Daughter.

Released in 1936, Dracula's Daughter is often cited as one of the earliest examples of queer horror. Directed by Lambert Hillyer, this sequel to Universal's 1931 Dracula stars Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska, aka Dracula's daughter. With her fanged father dead, she hopes to set herself free of his influence and her vampiric yearning for blood. But when she meets a beautiful mortal named Lili, her hunger is impossible to ignore.

Critics have long noted the sapphic undertones in this story, and Rolin Jones might be giving a nod to the storytellers who gave us vampires before Anne Rice wrote her novels. He might also be setting up a parallel about a fledgling that desperately wants to escape the power of her father/maker.

Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) even calls Lestat "Countess" (or "cuntess," if you look at the closed captions) as he enters the tour bus. So, could this mean The Vampire Lestat will delve into its eponymous blood-sucker's trauma over his making by Magnus?

Lestat has plenty of modern musical influences.

Over the course of the episode, Lestat and his bandmates reference Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and The Smiths, while Daniel mentions T. Rex.

After coming off stage their first night in Detroit, drummer TC (known as Tough Cookie in Anne Rice's novel) scoffs at Lestat's stage persona as his "Ozzy schtick."

Soon thereafter, as Lestat piles onto the tour bus, Daniel says he skipped the show, opting for blood-drugs and T. Rex on Spotify. Fans who've been listening to The Vampire Lestat's released tracks on streaming might well see the similarities between the 1960's English rock band and Lestat's glam rock sound.

When acknowledging Daniel's documentary, Lestat says, “I’ve seen a rough cut. It’s truthful and daring, with less Warren Beatty.” He's alluding to Madonna: Truth or Dare, the 1991 documentary that chronicled the queen of pop's "Blonde Ambition World Tour" — and gave viewers a peek into her romantic relationship with then-boyfriend Warren Beatty.

Lestat later name-drops the artists he sees as comparable to himself, saying, "David, Freddie, Prince Rogers are all gone… It's my era now." In conjunction, we can safely assume Lestat is referencing glam rock icon David Bowie, Queen's original and incomparable front man Freddie Mercury, and America's own Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson. With all these legendary and fabulous performers passed, Lestat strides in their footsteps.

Later, when Lestat's being badgered at the urinals by two members of Detroit's fan gang, he dismisses Rus' declaration that "Long Face sucks" by saying, "'Frankly, Mr. Shankly' almost ruined 'The Queen is Dead,'" alluding to two songs from the '80s English rock band The Smiths. In Lestat's own way, he seems to be alluding to the idea that "opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. And everyone thinks everyone else's stinks."

TC takes a page from Chapelle Roan.

When AMC announced Interview with the Vampire would be adapting Rice's second novel next, I suggested a celebrity cameo that would be pitch-perfect for the Brat Prince: Chapelle Roan.

SEE ALSO: Chappell Roan should be in 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 3

Outspoken, queer, and wildly fun, Roan's stage persona seems a sublime fit for the world of Lestat and company. While she's not made an appearance in the show itself, it seems showrunner Rolin Jones has nodded to her with a scene set on a red carpet.

In front of the aforementioned Dracula's Daughter hotel, TC and the other bandmates — minus Lestat — are on a red carpet, with paparazzi snapping away. While Larry, Alex, and Salamander seem content to caper for the cameras with heart hands and smiles, TC seethes, shouting, "Don’t tell me to pose. Fuck you.”

Roan fans might recall how in 2024 at the MTV Video Music Awards, Roan snapped back at a rude photographer, shouting, "Shut the fuck up."

We love a queen with boundaries.

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

With Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire, series creator Rolin Jones switches perspectives from Louis and Armand to the eponymous Brat Prince in The Vampire Lestat.

As I noted in my review, this season will leap from 18th-century Auvergne, where Lestat spent his mortal life, to 2025 America, where he's on tour with his rock band, The Vampire Lestat.

In tow, he's got Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), the journalist and vampire who published Louis' recounting as a book called Interview with the Vampire. Cameras roll on Lestat and the band for a behind-the-scenes documentary that Daniel is directing with Oscar ambitions. But the Brat Prince taunts that this doc is the "liner notes" to his songs, which offer a "rewrite" of Louis' version.

What's Lestat's beef with Interview with the Vampire?

Well, in the voiceover — courtesy of the vinyl records auctioned off at the top of the Season 3 premiere episode, "Detroit" — Lestat regards Louis' version of him as "a mayonnaise villain with psychopathic tendencies." 

From there, Lestat's new look for Season 3 reveals that he has longer hair than Louis recalled, and that his torso is striped with pink, meaty scars from fighting a wolf pack when he was a mortal.

The Brat Prince also chides Daniel and Louis from treating vampire sex as an often-traumatic thing in the book. In his record The Failures, Lestat says, "The fourth best thing the vampire can do to avoid thinking about the past is sex," adding, "Sex is fun, like the fun I sing about in 'Long Face.'" 

How is Lestat different in The Vampire Lestat versus Interview with the Vampire? Sam Reid is "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

In "Detroit," Lestat lays out some clear differences between how he sees himself and how Daniel and Louis' book represents him.

In the band's tour bus, Lestat has a tense exchange with Daniel that reveals several discrepancies. While the human camera operators roll, Daniel asks, "Were you a stutterer as a child?" When ignored, he presses, "Louis said you were." 

Lestat looks up from his texts with "toi" and tartly asks, "Was he there in 18th-century Auvergne?" From there, he goes on to list several inaccuracies he found in Molloy’s book, Interview with the Vampire. "Did I threaten Claudia with rape on a train? Was I in the room when Donizetti wrote Don Pasquale? No, no, and impossible, because I had buried myself underground for the vast majority of the 1800s." 

In flashback, Lestat will reveal how he first heard about Dan and Louis' book. While buying a copy at a bookshop in Montreal, he's annoyed to overhear the shopgirl lusting after Armand, and denouncing him. Not long after, he will be plagued by trick-or-treaters dressed as Louis, Armand, and Claudia. But his real rage is reserved for the book itself. This book has made a mockery of him.

In an amusing montage, "Detroit" has Lestat reading in between outbursts like, "I know what infinitesimal means!" and "It was raining!" and "No. Never fucking happened."

He seems particularly annoyed that his time on the stage as an actor was misrepresented. "I'm not a harlequin," he seethes in the episode. In Reid's live performance in New York City, The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only – LIVE, where he took to the stage as Lestat, he repeated this clarification, insisting to the crowd he was Lélio, not Harlequin.

The distinction here is that Lélio is a lover, refined and elegant in commedia dell'arte theater. Harlequin is more of a comical and mischievous character. Considering that bit of Lestat's story came from Armand, it might be that Lestat's seething ex purposefully misrepresented his stage persona to get under his skin. And he did.

But his biggest issue with Interview with the Vampire deals with his relationship with his fledgling daughter, Claudia.

Did Lestat threaten Claudia with rape on a train?  Sam Reid and Jennifer Ehle in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

No. Lestat challenges Daniel directly about this in the aforementioned bus scene. When he scribbles "never fucking happened" into the book, it's over that section. How do we know?

AMC previously released a clip of Daniel talking about Lestat's reaction to the book. In it, Daniel holds up Lestat's copy, showing the furious writing, and says, "He didn't like the part about Claudia and him on the train."

Teaser trailers for Season 3 assure that Delainey Hayles will be back in Claudia's yellow dress. So, we can assume this isn't the last we'll hear about this train scene.

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat  debuts on AMC and AMC+ June 7, with new episodes weekly.

Interview with the Vampire is back with Season 3, retitled The Vampire Lestat in honor of the second book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. As Lestat, Sam Reid goes from being an antagonist and supporting player in previous seasons to starring as this season's saucy anti-hero. His titular novel reveals his pre-vampire past, as well as his current ambition to become a rock star, singing the secrets of his kind — whether they like it or not. 

Following The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only – LIVE, the Season 3 premiere offers the episode “Detroit,” named for the city where much of its action takes place. But before the show gets to Lestat or his journey of sex, drugs, and motherfucking rock 'n' roll, it begins with a curious auction. 

A lot of exposition is dropped in a very short sequence. So, let’s dig into it beat by beat. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat' review: 'Interview With the Vampire' Season 3 delivers sex, blood, and a rock 'n' roll odyssey When is this auction set?  Sam Reid and Jennifer Ehle play Lestat and Gabrielle in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

The exact timing is unclear. But based on the auctioneer’s brief, we can assume after 2025, when the band The Vampire Lestat — led by the vampire Lestat — toured and recorded an album, which is currently what's on the auction block. 

As Interview with the Vampire was set during 2022, this opening scene takes place years after we last saw Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat. And it seems like the time in between has been rough on Louis, who is sporting a cane as he limps into the auction. His ex Armand (Assad Zaman) is wearing an eyepatch, with some scars creeping out behind it. No sign of Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) or Lestat, but Raglan James (Justin Kirk) from the Talamasca is present. 

As critics were given episodes one through six, I can tell you with confidence this opening takes place after the events of all those episodes. As for episode 7? I couldn’t say.

What does the auctioneer say at the start of The Vampire Lestat?  Assad Zaman is Armand in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

In this highly secretive auction set in a plane hangar, the auctioneer begins by introducing the first lot.  

"Lot 1 of 2: 'The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt,' which includes his 2025 self-titled album 'The Vampire Lestat,' additional session tracks that were discarded in the final assemblage of the album, original handwritten scores, and private recordings by the Vampire Lestat himself, which include a song cycle in the classical vein set to the poetry of Baudelaire. Before we begin the bidding, I perform the following action." 

To the shock of the assembled bidders, the auctioneer then sets lot one on fire. While others harrumph and leave, Louis smiles to himself. The burned-to-ashes lot is then sold to a woman for one yuan, suggesting this auction takes place in China. 

The auctioneer then continues: 

"Lot number two, a music box curated by the Vampire Lestat himself. A 1978 Ferdinando Meccani Corinto sideboard. Inside a Rossner and Sohn MOTT Turntable with BeoLab 20 speakers. Two temperature-controlled wine cabinets, one holding a bottle of Niepoort 1863 port wine, the other with a magnum of blood from the curator himself. The upper level, a singular vinyl pressing of 'The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt,' previously delineated, along with 111 albums of audio best described as an omniscient history of the events of the 2025 album, its supporting tour, and the consequential global catastrophes that from said album and tour, as narrated by the Vampire Lestat himself. The collection has been named 'The Failures.' We will begin the bidding at 50 million yuan."

Where is Lestat?  Sam Reid is rock star Lestat. Credit: AMC+

There are some clues in this scene, the first of which is the narration that begins shortly after the auctioneer’s brief. 

Louis, Armand, and Raglan bid furiously on lot number two. But we don’t see who will be the victor. Instead, over the bidding, we hear a soft record scratch, as if the unknown winner is playing the first vinyl record. 

Lestat’s voice sounds: "If you are hearing this now, you must be a very privileged individual. You could have fed a small nation for years while they paved over the rubble. You bought my box instead. I like you already."  

This reference to rubble and the auctioneer’s mention of "consequential global catastrophes" suggests Lestat recorded The Failures after the worst of the disaster. What disaster? Well, Lestat in this narration says, "I'm not saying the attempted extinction of the Y chromosome across the continents was all my fault. No, that would suggest a level of self-importance even I am not confident with. But upon reflection — yeah, I made a contribution." 

Lestat alludes to an attempted genocide, which fans of the Anne Rice novels might well assume was conducted by Akasha. The vampire queen referenced in passing in Season 2 has been added to the company this season, played by Sheila Atim. But like Lestat, I’m getting ahead of things. 

What can we deduce from The Vampire Lestat’s auction opening?  Eric Bogosian is Daniel Molloy in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire will be told in media res. Much like the classic film noir Sunset Boulevard, which centers on a rogue of a writer who pays dearly for toying with the affections of a reclusive silent film star, The Vampire Lestat begins with the anti-hero explaining how we got to this grim place. 

Is Lestat dead? Unlikely. However, from this opening, it seems there was a worldwide catastrophes that resulted in many deaths, particularly of those with a Y chromosome. And while some familiar vamps, like Armand and Louis, survived, they’re still carrying the scars. As for Daniel and Lestat, we'll have to watch and find out. 

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

A brand-new Spyro game is on its way, video game studio Toys for Bob revealed during the 2026 Xbox Games Showcase.

SEE ALSO: 'Fatal Fury' to join the ranks of fighting games-turned-movies

Titled Spyro: A Realm Beyond, the game is set for a spring 2027 release. It is the first new Spyro game since 2008's The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, and is created in collaboration between Toys for Bob and Microsoft's Activision.

Some elements of Spyro: A Realm Beyond will be familiar to fans of the franchise. Tom Kenny is back to voice the title character, a role he's played since 1999's Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage.

However, some aspects will be totally new to the Spyro games. Most notably, its new flight mechanic, which Toys for Bob describes as "not gliding, not a limited set of flight levels. True dragon flight."

A teaser released at the Xbox Games Showcase revealed what some of this flight gameplay would look like, showing Spyro soaring far off the ground.

According to Lou Studdert, associate creative director for Spyro: A Realm Beyond at Toys for Bob, players can just "press a button" to get fully airborne. There are no restrictions on when or where players can do this, but, of course, the game will force them to think strategically about how to use their flight within the environment.

The true dragon flight, along with Spyro's new, larger-winged look, make their debuts in Spyro: A Realm Beyond, coming to Xbox Series X and S, PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2 next spring.

With Mortal Kombat II in movie theaters and Street Fighter coming soon, 2026 is a big year for film adaptations of fighting games. But even more are on the way.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a movie based on SNK's Fatal Fury is in the works at indie production banner The Arena. The company has commissioned a script from David S. Goyer (Foundation, The Dark Knight trilogy), which will tell the story of brothers Terry and Andy Bogard. In the original game, the pair are seeking vengeance against crime boss Geese Howard after he killed their adoptive father. And what better way to exact their vengeance than through a high-stakes combat tournament?

SEE ALSO: 'Mortal Kombat II' review: The bar is in hell for video game movies, huh?

Fatal Fury is just one part of Arena's larger plan to build out an entertainment franchise around South Town, a fictional American city where several of SNK's games take place.

Also in the works is the feature film Geese, an origin story for Geese Howard that is reportedly inspired by The Godfather and Joker. Grant Singer (Netflix's Reptile) is set to write and direct.

Arena's plans for the world of South Town go beyond films. An animated Fatal Fury series, titled Fatal Fury: The Vow, is in development from Robert Kirkman's Skybound, which also makes Invincible.

Elsewhere, webtoon author Brandon Chen is developing an Art of Fighting webtoon, which will be the first of Arena's South Town titles to be released.

Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. could soon face opposition from U.S. States.

As reported by Reuters, California, New York, and other unnamed states are preparing to file a lawsuit to block the merger. Sources say the lawsuit would be filed "in the coming weeks."

The lawsuit's specific complaints are unknown at this time, though they could align with Hollywood and US senators' prior criticisms of the merger, which include antitrust concerns and concerns about the merger's harmful impact on the increasingly fragile film and TV industry.

Even if the lawsuit doesn't succeed in blocking the merger entirely, it could still significantly delay the deal. The consequences of a delay wouldn't be pretty for Paramount. If the deal isn't closed by October, the company will have to pay shareholders a daily fee of around $6.9 million.

However, Paramount has been laying the political groundwork for a smoother journey to regulatory clearance. As Reuters notes, Paramount CEO David Ellison's father, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, has ties to President Donald Trump. David Ellison has also been taking steps to appease the Trump administration since the Paramount-Skydance merger, resulting in internal conflict at Paramount, as seen most recently in CBS's firing of 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 7, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for June 7, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for June 7 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically.

Greater Than (13): Everything in this space must be greater than 13. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed vertically.

Greater Than (0): Everything in this space must be greater than 0. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically.

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically; 3-2, placed horizontally; 2-1, placed horizontally.

Less Than (2): 2-2, placed vertically; 3-2, placed horizontally; 2-1, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for June 7 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 0-2, placed vertically.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-0, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (0): Everything in this space must be greater than 0. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 3. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 4-5, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this purple space must add up to 3. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally; 1-1, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this purple space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 1-1, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for June 7 Pips

Number (6): Everything in this purple space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 5-3, placed horizontally.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 5-3, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-3, placed horizontally; 4-3, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 5-4, placed vertically.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally.

Number (7): Everything in this purple space must add up to 7. The answer is 4-3, placed horizontally; 4-6, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this light blue space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this red space must add up to 6. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically; 2-4, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this orange space must add up to 6. The answer is 2-4, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed vertically.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 4-6, placed vertically; 6-0, placed vertically.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Whether you should get a robot vacuum or a stick vacuum boils down to one question: How picky are you about cleaning?

Everyone can probably acknowledge the appeal of not lifting a finger to clean their floors. But to some, that convenience may not be worth the cringe sparked by watching a robot vacuum ignore a crumb or eat a phone charger. Despite notable upgrades in smart mapping and cleaning performance over the past half-decade, even the best robot vacuums of 2026 can't match the precision of the best cordless stick vacuums operated by, you know, an actual human with a brain.

SEE ALSO: The best way to make your Dyson stick vacuum last? Clean it regularly.

Cordless vacuums also just have the physical advantage in a lot of tricky spots. If you'd like to keep up with couch cushions, car seats, stairs, or the dusty abyss lying behind every door, a stick vacuum that can go handheld (and go outside) is the only option with that flexibility.

But to be real, your willingness to do all the cleaning yourself also matters — if you dread vacuuming by hand so much that you'll just put off doing it, your floors might actually be cleaner with a robot vacuum. I personally have both at the ready at all times and can argue for the value and practicality on either side, depending on the situation. And while the convenience of a robot vacuum is undeniable, I still reach for a cordless vacuum in more cases than not.

Other cordless vacuums I've tested

I've tested several other vacuum cleaners that didn't make the most recent cut for this list. Some, like the Shark Detect Pro with auto-empty station and LG All-in-One Cord Zero with auto-empty station, were a top recommendation at one point, but have since been overshadowed by newer, more powerful models that are a better bang for your buck.

There are also a few Dyson vacuums from years past that still garner substantial search interest, but that I no longer think are worth your money compared to what else is out there. The Dyson V8 and (seemingly discontinued) Dyson V10 that my parents have lying around have a tendency to push large debris like cat food and rocks around, and leave behind a layer of pet hair on many dark rugs. While these Dysons may have been powerhouses in the late 2010s, $300 could get you a more powerful option — maybe even automatic emptying, like with the Shark Detect Pro I just mentioned. The only upside would be that Dyson includes the motorized hair screw tool with the V8 and V10.

I also bumped the Dyson V15 Detect Submarine out of the list. The Roborock 2-in-1 cordless mop that took its place just offers a more seamless mopping system all around. The swappable wet roller head that turns the V15 Detect into a "mop" completely cuts off airflow to the dust bin of the vacuum, meaning there's no real wet suction going on. During my testing, this just pushed liquid around instead of soaking up spills, which then led to a soggy manual cleaning process that was super prone to leaks and weird smells. It just required way too much maintenance by hand, compared to the self-cleaning features of the Roborock F25 Ace Combo.

I also test robot vacuums. Are they as powerful?

I also test a ton of robot vacuums at home. While I think the convenience of robot vacuums is worth for, say, keeping up with the layer of dust and crumbs that accumulate during the work week, I have found that cordless vacuums are consistently tougher on elusive debris like pet hair or fine powders. This is especially when they've been pressed down into rug fibers or have been caked into corners.

Cordless stick vacuums are generally more powerful than robot vacuums. The upright design is optimal for airflow and has the real estate to house larger motors and more complex cyclone systems that create extra force on top of suction power alone. A robot vacuum's motor can't exceed the three or four-inch clearance that the vac needs to scoot its whole body under furniture. The motor of an upright vacuum typically lives completely separately from the vacuum head and roller brush and is thus under fewer constraints.

Physics aside, you could argue that a cordless vacuum is less likely to leave debris behind because a person is actively assessing where the suction needs to be focused. This includes tricky spots that aren't even on a robot vacuum's radar, like staircases or cars.

There are some one-to-one comparisons where a robot vacuum could be as powerful or more powerful than a stick vacuum. For instance, I've tested both the Roborock Saros 10R robot vacuum and Roborock F25 Ace cordless vacuum, and both offer 20,000 Pa suction power. But robot vacuums with that kind of power typically reside in the $1,000+ category, while it's much more affordable to hit that number with a stick vacuum. Even with identical stats on paper, the cordless vacuum would probably have a higher pickup rate over time just because the person operating it can see when more passes are necessary.

TL;DR: Live stream Cobolli vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open men's final for free on 9Now. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The 2026 French Open comes to a close today with the most anticipated match of the men's game, as Alexander Zverev faces Flavio Cobolli in the grand final.

The big story is focused on world No. 2 Zverev. The German superstar is chasing his first Grand Slam title, and with other top seeds crashing out of the tournament in the early stages, this could be his moment.

But he'll face fierce competition from Italian No. 10 Cobolli, who has fought hard to reach his first major tournament final and saw off higher-ranked competition along the way.

And while Zverev battled his way through the semi-final against Jakub Mensik, Cobolli reached the final via walkover when his opponent pulled out with a virus. Will the extra rest day be a factor when the finalists take to the court today?

It's been a tournament of surprises and shock twists so far, and the men's final is sure deliver more excitement. Don't miss the highly-anticipated match.

If you want to watch Cobolli vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open final for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

How to watch Cobolli vs. Zverev for free

Cobolli vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open is available to live stream for free on 9Now.

9Now is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can stream the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream the 2026 French Open for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Connect to 9Now

5. Watch the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer pretty generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Roland-Garros without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream the 2026 French Open before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming platforms from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for sport?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream Cobolli vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open for free with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Watch the 2026 French Open for free on 9Now and France TV. Access these free streaming platforms from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The world of tennis is focused on clay courts right now. Top players sharpened up in the Barcelona Open and Madrid Open, and now it's time for the main event: Roland-Garros.

Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz will not defend his title, but this year's tournament is not short of star names. It's always a special tournament filled with huge moments, and we've already seen some shock results as top seeds get dumped out.

If you're interested in watching the 2026 French Open from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

What is the French Open?

The French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It's the only Grand Slam tournament held on a clay surface, and is the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments.

The current singles champions are Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff.

When are the 2026 French Open finals?

The 2026 French Open is the 131th edition of the competition. The women's and men's singles finals take place on June 6 and June 7 respectively.

How to watch the 2026 French Open for free

The 2026 French Open is available to live stream for free on 9Now and France TV.

9Now and France TV are geo-restricted to Australia and France respectively, but anyone can access these free streaming platforms with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia or France, meaning you can stream the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream the 2026 French Open for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia or France

4. Connect to 9Now or France TV

5. Watch the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer pretty generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Roland-Garros without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream the 2026 French Open before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming platforms from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for the French Open?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for streaming live sport on free platforms, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2026 French Open for free with ExpressVPN.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Twang.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

DRAWL

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Anxious.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 7, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

ANTSY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Thigh bone.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 7 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 7, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

FEMUR

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Criminal.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

FELON

Final Hurdle hint

Ships.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

FLEET

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Looking up at the Moon tonight and wondering what exactly you're looking at? Wonder no more, this is what you can see.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Sunday, June 7, the Moon phase is Waning Gibbous. Tonight, 62% of the moon will be be lit up, according to NASA's Daily Moon Guide.

Without visual aids you should be able to spot the Oceanus Procellarum, Kepler Crater, and the Tycho Crater. If you have binoculars you'll also spot the Gassendi Crater, the Mare Humorum, and the Alphonsus Crater. And finally, with a telescope you'll also see the Apollo 12 landing spot, the Schiller Crater, and the Rima Ariadaeus.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on June 29.

What are Moon phases?

NASA explains that the Moon completes one full orbit around Earth in about 29.5 days, during which it moves through a sequence of eight phases. Even though the same side of the Moon always faces us, the amount of sunlight we can see changes as it travels along its path. This shifting light is what produces the lunar shapes, ranging from slim crescents to half-lit Moons and the bright Full Moon. All of these stages together make up the lunar cycle:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you always speak your mind.

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 June 7, 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: See-through

• Green: To say

• Blue: To destroy

• Purple: Types of tunes

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Translucent, as fabric

• Green: Speak

• Blue: Demolish

• Purple: Music genre suffixes

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 #1092 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Translucent, as fabric: GAUZY, GOSSAMER, SHEER, THIN

• Speak: EXPRESS, STATE, UTTER, VOICE

• Demolish: GUT, LEVEL, TOTAL, TRASH

• Music genre suffixes: CORE, POP, STEP, WAVE

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 June 7, 2026

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

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 today's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're an animal lover.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

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

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 7, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Herpetology 101

The words are related to animals.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe reptiles.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is diagonal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Coldblooded.

NYT Strands word list for June 7

• Snake

• Bullfrog

• Turtle

• Coldblooded

• Chameleon

• Crocodile

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if your finger is on the pulse.

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 June 7, 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 June 7, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A finger.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter T.

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...

THUMB

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.

You've heard of AI vibe coding, one dictionary's phrase of the year for 2025. As of this week, 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the AI vibe shift.

You wouldn't know the shift existed from the tech world's top pronouncements of late; it is, after all, always sunny in Silicon Valley. Microsoft's Build conference, like Google I/O in May, featured tons of techies talking about tokens, the metric by which AI prompts and answers are measured (a token, weirdly, is about three-quarters of a word on average).

Both conferences also centered claims about frontier AI that are dubious to say the least. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis at Google I/O: "Artificial General Intelligence is just a few years away... we are standing in the foothills of the Singularity." Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman: "scaling laws are holding... we are building towards what we call Humanist Superintelligence."

Wall Street was still buying it, but investors were wavering. The ultimate AI bellwether, Nvidia stock, tumbled for a few days, rallied after CEO Jensen Huang insisted AI agents will run everything, everywhere in the future (presumably once they've stopped deleting databases), then got pummeled again on Friday.

Still, for now, Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX continue to chase trillion-dollar IPOs, the latter based in large part on the untested concept of AI data centers in space.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk found the cheat code for capitalism. The SpaceX IPO proves it.

Regardless, outside the AI bubble, a backlash has been brewing for some time — and not only among students booing pro-AI commencement speakers.

Just 10 percent of Americans say they're thrilled about the future of AI, a Pew poll found in March; that same month, some 80 percent of registered U.S. voters in an NBC poll said neither Democrats nor Republicans are doing a good job on the AI front.

That number also appears in an April survey of white-collar workers: 80 percent are straight-up refusing to use AI even when it's mandated. In the last 30 days, 54 percent of workers reported bypassing company AI tools and completing jobs themselves.

Those numbers suggest general strike-levels of discontent with AI across every industry, out there in the real America beyond Silicon Valley and Wall Street, if not an outright revolutionary mood.

Data center protests, fueled by the 70 percent of Americans who say they don't want data centers near them, are only likely to grow going forward — especially now that they are producing tangible results.

At least 48 data center projects were blocked or delayed in 2025, according to Data Center Watch, and the fight is only getting more fierce. Take the planned Stratos data center in Utah, where local opposition just forced VC and Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary to downsize his land usage by 75 percent.

"We screwed up," O'Leary told local TV news Friday. "We pissed off a lot of people."

'Let them eat tokens'

And the threat of electoral guillotines may explain why politicians are starting to propose serious action.

This week alone, Senator Bernie Sanders came out in favor of the U.S. public owning a 50 percent stake in AI companies, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposed an AI tax, and President Trump finally signed an executive order on AI regulation that his AI czar, Silicon Valley titan David Sacks, has long opposed.

On Friday, New York State legislators sent a one-year data center moratorium to the governor's desk — and Trump seemed to come around to Sanders' way of thinking on the government taking an ownership stake in OpenAI. Some who doubt OpenAI's current worth saw it as a bailout.

The White House's AI executive order was announced while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was making rosy pronouncements on AI at Build, adding to the surreal sense that we're watching a tale of two worlds — the anti-AI people versus an out-of-touch AI regime that says, essentially, let them eat tokens.

But hold the revolution: Just below the surface (and the Microsoft Surface Ultra), the AI regime is showing signs of cracking all on its own — and it's all down to those tokens.

Silicon Valley's AI backlash begins

When it comes to AI true-believer companies, they don't get much truer than Uber. The rideshare giant says 90 percent of its engineers use AI tools, mostly Anthropic's Claude Code. As much as 10 percent of Uber's codebase is written by AI agents.

Uber also had leaderboards that encouraged as much usage of AI tokens as possible; in Silicon Valley, this is known as tokenmaxxing, and it was really hot in 2025.

Then the tokenmaxxing bill came due. "The budget I thought I would need [for 2026] is blown away already,” CTO Neppalli Naga told The Information on April 14 — less than four months into the year.

At the time, however, the information didn't make much of a dent in the AI news cycle — not until Uber's COO confirmed what it meant at the end of May. Naga's busted budget was a "head-exploding moment," Andrew MacDonald told the Rapid Response podcast. Such spending "becomes harder to justify because AI is not free...we're going to have to start talking about token consumption."

Just like that, we started talking about token consumption. Axios reported an unnamed company had burned through half a billion dollars of tokens in a single month "after failing to put usage limits on Claude licenses."

Next, we learned Amazon and Meta had shut down their own internal AI leaderboards; other companies like Walmart and Starbucks have scaled back their AI agent plans.

In a leaked email, one Amazon senior vice president told employees to "stop using AI just for the sake of using AI." You'd be forgiven for thinking this obliterates a large chunk of OpenAI and Anthropic's business model.

Both companies have spent years building models that, for the most part, consume more tokens. Now they're promoting agents who can consume tokens on steroids — often as much as 24 times as a regular model.

As high-minded as their missions might be, both companies are in it to sell tokens.

Why tokenmaxxing died A scene from a data center protest in Tucson, Arizona. Credit: Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star via Getty Images

Some AI leaders, sensing the shift in the wind, are starting to say that sort of thing openly. Ravi Kumar S., CEO of AI IT firm Cognizant, called tokenmaxxing "a vanity metric" at a Fortune conference on Monday. Kumar took aim at OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, accusing them of "fearmongering."

Altman and Amodei have walked back previous predictions of an AI jobs apocalypse now that they have IPOs in the offing — reason enough for a vibe shift of its own. But what's really hurting the two CEOs is that they're also cashing in on user confusion over the complex cost of AI.

Earlier this year, Anthropic quietly changed the price of Claude for many customers, charging them per token. OpenAI is looking at dropping its "unlimited" ChatGPT plans — quite a change from a year ago, when Altman promised "intelligence too cheap to meter."

The shift isn't just happening at the two AI giants. Microsoft started cutting token costs for itself and raising token prices for everyone else — even before those rosy pronouncements at Build.

SEE ALSO: Thank the AI industry for tech price increases: See the full list

Microsoft began revoking developers' access to Claude Code, pushing them to Microsoft Copilot instead, in May. On June 1, Github Copilot users were switched from a fixed subscription to a per-token subscription model.

Reddit filled with angry users noting how expensive their AI prompts have suddenly become. In one extreme case, a Claude user blew 50 percent of his monthly credits on a single prompt.

"At the beginning of the year," Altman said in an OpenAI livestream this week, "people were totally happy with the amount they were spending... now, all of a sudden [it's] a huge issue." In a CNBC interview Monday, Altman admitted to a "ton of waste" in AI spending, and said companies were asking, "how long do I have to wait for [AI benefits] to show up in revenue?"

This was, Altman said, a "fair issue." And the closest Altman came to an answer? "The industry will figure that out pretty quickly... in another year or two."

Will the vibe shift burst the AI bubble?

How long OpenAI and Anthropic have to figure out this issue, however, depends largely on what happens in their IPOs.

"Nobody knows when this will all collapse, but 2026 will be remembered in hindsight as the year in which retail investors were left holding the bag," Gary Marcus, a professor and leading generative AI critic, predicted Monday.

Marcus, who has been increasingly proven right in the AI problems he's foreseen since 2022, may yet be off base here. But he does have a hunch, based on comments from Anthropic cofounder Daniela Amodei, that both companies had burned so much money they were "months from bankruptcy" and had "run out of options" other than to file for trillion-dollar IPOs.

In particular, OpenAI has long been losing more than a billion dollars a month — the cost of serving ChatGPT for free to hundreds of millions of people.

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Financial bubbles built around technologies invariably end with an Emperor's New Clothes moment. Eventually, enough people are pointing and laughing that courtiers can't carry off the hype any longer.

That's what happened to end the dotcom bubble in 2000. A business deal came along that was so ridiculous on its surface (the world's largest media empire, snapped up by the guys who gave away dial-up internet via CDs?!) that markets couldn't help but point and laugh. The vibe shifted. Overhyped, profitless dotcom companies began to look naked, and a stock collapse soon followed.

Human hiring and hallucinations

Times have changed, and the AI bubble is a hardier thing than its dotcom predecessor. It is built atop the one company currently making a fortune out of all this. NVIDIA has sold the picks and shovels to AI gold rush seekers for so many years now that they've started to seem invulnerable. Yet even Nvidia is learning lessons about the prohibitive growing cost of AI.

"The cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees," one Nvidia executive told Axios in April. So even Nvidia is vulnerable to tokenmaxxing. And that's why the hottest thing in AI these days is hiring humans, because they're getting to be cheaper than AI — and are needed for quality control on AI's output anyway.

Cognizant's Kumar boasted about his AI company hiring 20,000 graduates last year, and more this year — a vibe shift if ever we've seen one.

So the jobspocalypse vibe has shifted. The tokens vibe has shifted. And the AI data center-building vibe has shifted, too — not just in terms of public and environmental opposition, but in the fact that there aren't as many data centers under construction as we'd been led to expect. (Gadfly journalist Ed Zitron has done yeoman's work here, scouring satellite photos of data center sites for signs of construction).

What's left? Arguably, the only vibe that hasn't shifted is the hallucination vibe, in that users still aren't aware how often most AI models hallucinate. Google, for example, won't say how often Gemini 3.5 Flash hallucinates, but a December Google study found that Gemini may only be accurate 68.8 to 83.8 percent of the time.

SEE ALSO: How often does Gemini 3.5 Flash hallucinate or lie? Google isn't saying.

And hallucinations aren't hard to find these days. The hallucination that OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are genuine trillion-dollar AI giants that deserve to be listed in top index funds despite being unprofitable (breaking news: as I wrote this, the S&P 500 officially opted out of that hallucination).

The hallucination that Nvidia will always remain on top, even as companies making up a majority of its business are developing their own AI chips (which is exactly why Michael Burry, the Big Short guy, continues to short the stock).

The hallucination that customers want AI in everything, when survey after survey says the opposite. The hallucination that AI content will dominate the future, when the generation that will take us there points and laughs at AI slop.

If these hallucinations fade from the fevered brains of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, the great AI vibe shift of 2026 will be complete.

This article reflects the opinion of the author.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

In New York, legislators have passed a one-year moratorium on new data center construction, reports The Verge, marking the first statewide ban on a critical component of the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence. 

Governor Kathy Hochul has yet to sign the bill into law, however, so at this stage it is better understood as a proposed framework than actual policy, but the lawmakers behind the bill say it is designed less as an outright ban than as a means of buying time to assess the many impacts of new data center construction — on the environment, on energy prices, and on local jobs.

SEE ALSO: Meta is building AI data centers in tents

If passed into law, the bill would require any company planning to build a "large" data center, defined as having at least 20 megawatts of capacity, to also fund a public hearing into the desirability of the project among local residents. 

Public opinion on data centers has rapidly soured, even since last fall, with 7 in 10 Americans now opposed to the construction of new data centers in their area, and lawmakers are starting to take note. A similar moratorium was attempted in Maine earlier this year, but the proposal was ultimately rejected by Democratic Governor Janet Mills on the grounds that it failed to exempt a previously planned project. 

Unsurprisingly, representatives from companies backing new data center construction oppose the moratoriums, favoring a case-by-case assessment of new builds. Politico spoke with Stacy Sikes, the current president and CEO of the Long Island Association business group, who warned about the economic ramifications of a blanket ban: "We think it would overall be damaging to the state’s economy, because having a blanket moratorium instead of looking at it at a case by case basis would not allow the state to move forward on a data center project that would actually be helpful to our economy." 

When asked about the likelihood of the bill becoming law, Hochul's spokesperson Kristin Devoe was predictably terse: "The Governor will review the bill."