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The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're kind-hearted.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

• Yellow: Sweetie pie

• Green: Squishy

• Blue: They have dials

• Purple: Canines

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

• Yellow: Tender-hearted person

• Green: Pellet-filled things

• Blue: Things with knobs

• Purple: Starting with familiar names for kinds of dogs

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 #1058 is...

• Tender-hearted person: MARSHMALLOW, SOFTIE, SWEETHEART, TEDDY BEARS

• Pellet-filled things: BEANIE BABY, DESSICANT PACKET, EYE PILLOW, HACKY SACK

• Things with knobs: CONTROL PANEL, ETCH A SKETCH, RADIO, STOVE

• Starting with familiar names for kinds of dogs: CHOWDER, DOODLEBUG, LABUBU, PITTER-PATTER

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.

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 a tree hugger.

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.

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.

The words are related to forestation.

These words describe trees.

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

Today's spangram is Branch Out.

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• Aspen

• Dogwood

• Birch

• Branch Out

• Cedar

• Cypress

• Eucalyptus

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 the latest Strands.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Podium.

The letter R appears twice.

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Today's Wordle starts with the letter R.

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...

RISER

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 the latest Wordle.

AI companions are quietly becoming a staple across the industry, and OpenAI is now joining the trend. The company has launched Codex Pets, an optional animated companion baked into its AI coding tool.

Like most AI companions, it isn't doing any heavy lifting. But Codex Pets earns its keep as a floating overlay that surfaces project status updates in real-time, so you don't have to switch tabs. Users can monitor active threads and track whether Codex is running, waiting on input, or ready for review, all without ever leaving whatever they're working on.

Getting started is straightforward. Head to Settings, select Appearance, then choose Pets to pick from the built-in options. Once activated, the floating overlay can be toggled on or off by typing /pet in the composer, using Wake Pet or Tuck Away Pet in Settings > Appearance, or by pressing Cmd+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows.

The feature ships with eight built-in variations — including a cat and dog — but the more interesting play is the custom pet creator. Users can prompt Codex directly to generate their own companion, then share it online. A quick scroll through the homepage reveals the community has already gotten to work. Current creations include Goku, Patrick Star, Microsoft's long-retired Clippy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and — naturally — a goblin.

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.

Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update has always been a reliable source of joy — or at the very least, a place to laugh — in what continues to be a genuinely strange moment in history. The jokes are great, but they're also, increasingly, hitting a little too close to home.

Hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost do their level best to navigate the week's headlines, tackling the abrupt collapse of Spirit Airlines and the continued, inexhaustible chaos emanating from the Trump administration. The latter is fertile ground at this point, and the pair works through them with ease.

Personally, the best bit from this involves King Charles' recent meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the conspicuous absence of any attempt by the British Crown to walk away with yet another piece of Indian cultural heritage.

Everyone has at least one bad breakup they'd rather forget. For Olivia Rodrigo's character Saturday night, that breakup was very much front and center.

The sketch finds Rodrigo at a party, freshly face-to-face with an ex she's determined to make jealous. Her solution is to recruit the perfectly nice, completely game guy standing next to her, played by Tommy Brennan. A solid plan, all things considered.

Her ex, played by Ben Marshall, has the exact same idea. Unfortunately, the woman he recruited for his scheme is being played by Ashley Padilla. So, while Rodrigo and her easygoing pretend date have a genuinely lovely time, the ex's night devolves into something approaching a minor psychological crisis. Padilla has a particular gift for playing characters who exist just slightly outside the bounds of normal human behavior, and this sketch is a showcase for exactly that.

A great time all around.

Another day, another pop star doing a Shop TV sketch on Saturday Night Live.

Much like fellow pop girly Sabrina Carpenter before her, this weekend's host Olivia Rodrigo pulled double duty as both host and musical guest. And also like Carpenter, the Guts singer found herself behind the counter of Shop TV — the show's recurring QVC-style segment featuring hosts Rhett and Bev, played by Mikey Day and Ashley Padilla, hawking products that have absolutely no business existing.

This week's offering comes from Daisy, played by Rodrigo, who's selling lava cakes innocently shaped like buttholes.

There are several lines of dialogue in this sketch that, personally, did not need to exist and cannot be unheard. The bit is a great time, genuinely — but as Rhett and Bev themselves might say, the less time spent discussing the specifics, the better. So, consider this your warning and your recommendation simultaneously.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 3-5, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 3-1, placed vertically; 0-1, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed vertically.

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

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

Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-6, placed vertically.

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

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

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

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

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

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 6-5, placed horizontally.

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 0-4, placed horizontally.

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

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

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 4-2, placed vertically.

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally; 3-2, placed horizontally; 2-0, placed vertically; 4-6, placed vertically.

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

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

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, 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 the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise 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 before the game ends.

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.

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

• Yellow: Hitting the gym

• Green: NFL coaches

• Blue: Cursed

• Purple: Finish the Big Ten name

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

• Yellow: In Good Shape

• Green: Current NFL Head Coaches

• Blue: Famous Sports "Curses"

• Purple: Starts of Big Ten Names

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: Sports Edition #586 is...

• In Good Shape: AGIL, ATHLETIC, FIT, STRONG

• Current NFL Head Coaches: COEN, GLENN, REID, RYANS

• Famous Sports "Curses": BAMBINO, BILLY GOAT, MADDEN, SI COVER

• Starts of Big Ten Names: BOIL, BUCK, CORN, HAWK

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections 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.

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.

Saturday Night Live returned from a brief hiatus Saturday with a cold open depicting a joint press conference between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, with "Master of None" creator Aziz Ansari playing the latter.

Colin Jost's Hegseth hit the familiar beats at the podium — performative machismo, military bravado, and repeated jabs at the secretary's well-documented drinking habits. This time, Hegseth arrived at the mic hauling an oversized pitcher of scotch, which he assured the room was his one for the day. He then fielded questions from the press about the administration's handling of U.S. strikes on Iran, dismissing each reporter with the particular brand of smug confidence that has become central to Jost's portrayal of the character.

Ansari's Patel proved to be the sketch's standout, arriving to defend his tenure at the FBI and proceeding to do so poorly. The bit's centerpiece involved Patel simultaneously denying and admitting that he had locked himself out of his work email for 36 hours after forgetting he had changed his password to "kashmeoutside69."

Funnily enough, Patel was reportedly locked out of his FBI email in real life and believed, at least momentarily, that he was being fired. As the sketch demonstrated, the distance between SNL's Cold Open and the actual news cycle has rarely felt smaller.