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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.

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

A bottomless space.

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

ABYSS

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A Nascar driver.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for August 4, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

RACER

Hurdle Word 3 hint

To hit hard.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for August 4 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for August 4, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

SMITE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Similar.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for August 4 Hurdle Word 4 answer

ALIKE

Final Hurdle hint

A curved pathway.

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

ORBIT

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 Moon is up and easy to spot tonight. Its surface is covered in craters and plains that are nice and easy to see, thanks to where we are in the lunar cycle. The lunar cycle is the Moon’s regular orbit around Earth, which causes it to go through different phases from new to full and back again.

What is today’s moon phase?

As of Thursday, Oct. 10, the moon phase is Waning Gibbous. Tonight, only 84% will be lit up, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation.

The moon is covered in interesting craters, mountains, and Apollo landing spots. And we can see lots of them tonight. With just your naked eye, spot the Oceanus Procellarum, the Mare Serenitatis, and the Mare Tranquillitatis. If you have binoculars, pull them out to see the Grimaldi Basin, the Mare Humorum, and the Gassendi Crater. And if you have a telescope, you'll also see the Rupes Altai, Fra Mauro Highlands, and the Rima Hyginus.

When is the next full moon?

The next full moon will be on Nov. 5.

What are moon phases?

NASA explains that as the Moon completes its 29.5-day orbit around Earth, it passes through a series of phases. These changes happen because the positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon relative to each other shift over time. From Earth, we see the Moon as fully bright, partially lit, or completely dark, but the same side always faces us. The differences in appearance come from how much sunlight hits its surface at each point in its orbit.

The eight main moon phases are:

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)

Last Quarter (or Third 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.

Why are today’s games so cinematic? Why do so many video games feel like full-blown movies now?

Well, because they kind of are, or at least they can be. And while that mix doesn’t always land, when it does, it can make for some incredible storytelling. And no one embodies that more than the Big Boss himself, Hideo Kojima. In this episode of How it Hits, we look at the directors, techniques, and stories blurring the line between film and play.

Microsoft suffered a relatively brief but certainly inconvenient outage on Thursday. A number of its popular productivity services went down — most notably its Microsoft 365 software, which includes Word and Excel — causing issues for U.S. employees in the middle of a workday. In addition, users reported problems accessing popular productivity apps like Teams and Outlook.

User-reported issues for Microsoft 365 surfaced on Down Detector around 2 p.m. ET, peaking at 2:30 p.m. ET. (Disclosure: Down Detector is owned by Ziff Davis, which also owns Mashable.) As of about 5 p.m. ET, user-reported issues with 365 had fallen off precipitously.

Is the Microsoft outage over?

In short: Yes, it seems so. Microsoft itself confirmed the problem appeared to be resolved, though it did so in corporate speak.

"We identified that a portion of network infrastructure in North America was misconfigured, resulting in impact," read a statement from its 365 status account on X. "We’ve confirmed after a period of monitoring that rebalancing the affected traffic successfully resolved the issue and service health has recovered."

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An inability to access 365 means big problems for workers, considering it means losing Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive. It's hard to work without such key services. Reuters also noted that there were earlier reported issues with Microsoft Teams and Exchange Online, two other key work services.

Here's what you need to know about the outage.

What happened to Microsoft 365? The answer lies with Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft's issues on Thursday stemmed from a problem with Azure, the company's cloud platform. The company said there was a problem with its Azure Front Door (AFD) service, which is its content delivery network. That meant customers couldn't access some of their services.

Microsoft said that "a platform issue resulted in impact to the Azure Front Door (AFD) service. Impacted customers experienced intermittent delays or timeouts when accessing their services." Microsoft noted the issue began in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

All told, the outage was relatively short-lived. Thankfully, it's nothing like the massive 2024 Microsoft outage that was caused by CrowdStrike. It was a chaotic afternoon for some 365 users, but it all seems to be resolved hours later.

The best streaming deals to watch NHL games at a glance: Best for ESPN, ABC games ESPN Unlimited annual plan $299.99 (save $59.89) Get Deal BEST FOR TNT GAMES HBO Max Standard annual plan $169.99 (save $33.89) Get Deal BEST OVERALL Sling TV Orange Season Pass $199 for 5 months (save $30.95 ) Get Deal Best for out-of-market games ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+) annual plan $119.99 (save $23.89) Get Deal

Another hockey season is upon us, which means it's time once again to figure out how to watch your favorite NHL team. And fair warning: it's not easy. We recently estimated that it would cost over $800 and 11 different streaming services to watch every NFL football game this season. The NHL streaming situation isn't that bad, but it's not great.

Every year, watching live sports get more and more difficult for those without cable (and even those with cable). But lucky for you, we've done some of the dirty work for you to make your life a little bit easier. Hockey season is stressful enough without having to figure out how to watch the next game.

Behold, the ultimate guide to watching every NHL game in the 2025-2026 season.

When does hockey season start?

The 2025-2026 NHL season opened on Oct. 7 with a triple header, including the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers raising their banner. The regular season runs through April 16, 2026, but thanks to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, there will be almost a month-long break in February. You can check out the full schedule on the official NHL website.

What channels are the NHL games on?

If you have cable or access to a cable login, live games will air on the ESPN/ESPN2/ABC family of networks, TNT/truTV/TBS family of networks, NHL Network, and regional sports networks throughout the season. If you don't have cable, you'll need a streaming service or two to catch live games (more on that below).

Check out the official schedule on NHL.com to find out which channel to tune into for specific games.

How can I watch NHL games without cable?

Here's where things get complicated. If you don't have cable access or a cable login, you'll need at least one streaming service to catch NHL games live. Let's start with the easy part: national broadcasts. Nationally broadcast games will either be on ESPN's family of networks, TNT's family of networks, NHL Network, or ESPN+ (now ESPN Select). Here's a breakdown of their streaming counterparts.

• ESPN+ Broadcasts: Stream with ESPN Select or Hulu

• TNT Broadcasts: Stream on HBO Max

• ESPN Broadcasts: Stream with ESPN Unlimited

• ABC Broadcasts: Stream with ESPN Select or ESPN Unlimited

• NHL Network Broadcasts: no streaming counterpart

In-market games

As NHL fans know, national broadcasts only make up a small fraction of the full slate of games. Most games are broadcast locally on regional sports networks (RSNs). Many of these RSNs (but not all) offer their own streaming subscriptions, like FanDuel Sports Network or Gotham Sports. If you're unsure which RSN you need to watch your local team, the NHL actually does a great job of laying it all out on their website — you can also check out the FAQs below.

The most direct way to access these RSNs is through their individual subscription offers. Of course, because streaming sports is notoriously complicated, not every RSN has its own streaming counterpart. For these, you'll need a cable alternative like Fubo or DirecTV Stream, which cost a pretty penny.

Out-of-market games

If you're a fan of an out-of-market team, it's actually a bit easier to watch your team's games than it is if you're in-market (crazy, right?). ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+) streams practically all regional broadcasts for teams that aren't in your local market. For example, I live in Nashville, but I'm a Washington Capitals fan. I can watch all regional Capitals broadcasts on ESPN Select, but Nashville Predators broadcasts are blacked out. For national broadcasts, you'll still need access to ABC, ESPN, NHL Network, and TNT (see above streaming counterparts).

SEE ALSO: The popular sports piracy network Streameast shut down, and sports fans are not OK Which streaming services do I need to watch NHL games?

If you're a fan of your local team, your first order of business should be to figure out which regional sports network you need. If the RSN offers its own streaming subscription, this is your best bet for watching the most games. If it doesn't, you're going to need a cable alternative that offers RSN access — most likely Fubo or DirecTV Stream.

If you don't have cable access or a cable alternative, you'll need a couple streaming services for every game that's not regionally broadcast: HBO Max and ESPN. HBO Max will give you access to all TNT broadcasts, while ESPN will unlock access to ABC and ESPN broadcasts, as well as ESPN+ exclusive games.

The best streaming deals to watch NHL games

Just because sports require a ton of subscriptions doesn't mean you have to break the bank. We've found several streaming deals that can keep some extra money in your pocket this hockey season.

Best for ESPN, ABC, and ESPN+ games: Save 16% on the ESPN Unlimited yearly plan Opens in a new window Credit: ESPN ESPN Unlimited annual plan $299.99/year (save $59.89) Get Deal

ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service, launched this past summer, now offers access to the entire suite of ESPN networks and services to sports fans in one subscription. For the sake of hockey, you'll get to stream games from ESPN, ESPN on ABC, and ESPN+ (ESPN Select). It typically costs $29.99 per month, but if you commit to a full year, you'll save about 16% or nearly $60. Of course, you can watch a whole lot more than just NHL games, making the yearly plan worth it particularly for fans of multiple sports.

Best for TNT, TBS, and truTV games: Save 16% on the HBO Max Standard yearly plan Opens in a new window Credit: HBO Max HBO Max Standard annual plan $169.99/year (save $33.89) Get Deal

A Max Standard subscription includes the B/R Sports add-on, which includes access to the NHL on TNT games (and simulcast TBS and truTV games). It costs $16.99 per month, but if you opt for a yearly plan, that cost drops down to just $14.16 per month. You'll save 16% or $33.89 by paying for the full year up front.

The most games for the lowest price: Sling TV Orange Season Pass Opens in a new window Credit: Sling Sling TV Orange Season Pass $199 for 5 months (save $30.95) Get Deal

Sling TV's Orange plan is your best bet to watch the most NHL national broadcasts in one place for the lowest price. The Orange plan includes access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, TNT, and TBS, plus 30 other channels. While that doesn't include ABC, most ABC NHL games are also available through ESPN3, so you'll be all set.

Sling subscriptions are a la carte, so you can add to and take away from your plan with no worries and cancel or pause your subscription at any time. The Orange plan costs $46 per month, but if you sign up for a Season Pass (5 months), you'll pay about $39.80 per month in one lump sum. It's not the biggest savings — about $31 — but it's the most bang for your buck.

Best for out-of-market games: Save 16% on the ESPN Select annual plan Opens in a new window Credit: ESPN ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+) annual plan $119.99/year (save $23.89) Get Deal

As mentioned above, ESPN Select allows you to watch all out-of-market regional games all season long. It will also exclusively host 47 games this season. A monthly subscription will run you $11.99, but if you sign up for a year up front with the Select annual plan, it'll cost just $9.99 per month ($119.99/year). That's 16% or $23.89 in savings.

Note: ESPN+ is now ESPN Select. If you were formerly an ESPN+ subscriber, you'll automatically be switched to the ESPN Select plan.