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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 May 25, 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 May 25, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 25 Pips

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed horizontally.

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

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

Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 25 Pips

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

Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.

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

Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.

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

Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 6-1, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 2-3, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 25 Pips

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 5-4, placed vertically.

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

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically; 0-1, placed vertically.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 3-5, placed vertically.

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 0-1, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 3-1, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.

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

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

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

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

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

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally; 2-1, placed vertically.

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

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

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

Less Than (5): Everything in this space must be less than 5. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically; 0-6, placed horizontally.

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

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A one‑legged robot that jumps instead of rolls could help scientists explore the icy geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus, sampling material from a hidden ocean that may be friendly to life.

The early mission concept, known as LEAP — short for Legged Exploration Across the Plain — imagines a robot about one-foot tall and weighing roughly 2 pounds. Rather than driving like a Mars rover, LEAP would use a spring‑driven leg, a pair of wheels, and internal spinning "reaction wheels" to roll, tip itself upright, and launch into long, arcing hops.

Funded by NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program, the LEAP project builds on a real-world prototype, called SALTO. Though it looks like a little pogo stick — or Pixar's boinging lamp — its jumping action actually takes inspiration from squirrels. (If that's not cute enough, imagine scientists collecting data from squirrels with high-speed cameras while the critters traverse a homemade parkour course.) The researchers published their results in Science Robotics last year.

Whether the hopping robot ever reaches Saturn will depend on mission choices still years away. But you can watch the little robot do its thing in a new video just released by NASA further down in this story. 

Enceladus has become a prime target in the search for life beyond Earth. Beneath its bright ice crust lies a global ocean. Near the south pole, deep fractures nicknamed "tiger stripes" vent that water into space as plumes of ice grains and gas. Those jets give scientists a rare advantage in the outer solar system: They can sample ocean material without drilling through miles of ice.

SEE ALSO: This NASA gear may be the first to survive the brutal lunar night

Reaching those jets is not straightforward. The region around them looks fractured and uneven, with steep ridges, broken ice fields, and powdery material. Other options, like aircraft, have limits as well, said Justin Yim, a mechanical science and engineering assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Conventional rovers may struggle to navigate this rugged terrain. Flying poses its own challenges," said Yim at the 2025 NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts symposium. "Enceladus has no atmosphere, and the use of rocket-based propulsion [would risk] contaminating samples. It is in this context that we find jumping to be uniquely promising."

Because Enceladus has extremely weak gravity — about one-eightieth of Earth's — a relatively small push can send an object traveling far. Researchers estimate LEAP could travel roughly 560 feet — close to the length of two American football fields — in a single hop and rise about 300 feet into the air.

Each jump would play out in slow motion compared with Earth. That long airtime is central to the design. It would allow the robot to pass directly through a plume while in flight. A single hop could last close to a minute, with several seconds spent inside the icy spray.

During that time, onboard instruments could analyze ice particles, measure composition, and capture data on how the plume behaves. Contrary to popular belief, more legs wouldn't necessarily improve its jumping performance, Yim says.  

"One is a great number for jumping, particularly because it has this great advantage of allowing you to concentrate your actuation in one very powerful and simpler design," he said at the symposium last year. "Multiple legs give you a lot of benefits for doing things like sitting or standing on the ground, but you could do those equally well with wheels."

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LEAP's two wheels and one leg give it three points of contact, which makes the robot stable in that position as well, he said.

The robot would likely ride to Enceladus aboard a larger spacecraft that first orbits the moon and then lands, a setup often described as an Orbilander. From that base, LEAP could deploy, make repeated jumps between vents, and go beyond the landing zone.

But before any mission becomes real, engineers still need to demonstrate that the system can survive Enceladus' extreme cold, which reaches about minus -330 degrees Fahrenheit, and test how its foot behaves on unfamiliar ice. Most development will have to happen through simulations and lab testing.

"It's going to be difficult to get the same type of conditions we'll have on Enceladus," Yim said. "It's extremely, extremely cold, and the type of ice particles we'll encounter there are probably very different from what we'd see in natural environments on Earth."

You've done it! You've braved the tunnels and laboratories of The Boroughs, met Mother (Nancy Daly) and her spidery "kids," and watched Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) and his friends free them in a daring escape.

SEE ALSO: 'The Boroughs' review: Stop what you're doing and watch retirees fight monsters in this fantastic sci-fi series

It's a happy ending for almost everyone involved. Sorry to the villainous Blaine (Seth Numrich) and Anneliese (Alice Kremelberg), but they had it coming. However, there are still some major revelations to unpack, and a few more questions the show has yet to answer. Let's break it down.

What are the monsters in The Boroughs? Credit: Netflix

The origin of the spider-like nightmares who lurk in the tunnels beneath the Boroughs is tied to the founding of the retirement community itself.

In 1949, Boroughs founder Marcus Shaw found an egg in a mine. It hatched a creature he called Mother. Drinking her blood holds your body in time. You won't age, get sick, or die, as long as you keep drinking the blood. Marcus has been drinking her blood for decades, but in order to keep his immortality a secret, he changed his name to Blaine and posed as Marcus' grandson.

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While Blaine, Anneliese, and their co-conspirators feed on Mother's blood, she needs to feed on cerebrospinal fluid. To obtain it, Blaine sics Mother's kids on the Boroughs' inhabitants at night. They feed the fluid back to Mother, thus creating the golden, goopy lifeblood that keeps Blaine and Anneliese looking young.

Draining so much cerebrospinal fluid can lead to rare neurological diseases, like Maxwell's, which impacts Edward (Ed Begley Jr.). Maxwell's is fictional, likely a cover-up Blaine and his staff use to explain their residents' decline as a result of all the brain fluid siphoning. In trying to buy more time for themselves, they're robbing time from others. It's a sick, exploitative cycle, but not one the monster kids seem aware of beyond simply needing to feed.

Why does Mother look like a human in The Boroughs?

While the kids have spider-like legs and human-like torsos, Mother is extremely human in appearance. (Aside from the occasional extra limb and a large protuberance on her back, of course.) Why does she look so different?

In episode 7, Wally (Denis O'Hare) posits that Mother looks human because she's been eating a steady diet of human brain fluid. Yummy. It's a very literal interpretation of "You are what you eat," and it appears to go both ways. Just as Mother looks human after eating so much human brain fluid, so too can Blaine and Anneliese shift into monsters after drinking so much of her blood. The kids have their fair share of human characteristics as well, likely also because of all the brain fluid changing their bodily makeup. That raises the question: If these creatures are fundamentally altered by what they eat, then what do they look like before they eat anything? How did Mother look when she first hatched?

How could Mother communicate with Sam in The Boroughs? Alfred Molina in "The Boroughs." Credit: Netflix

All throughout The Boroughs, Sam experienced traumatic flashbacks to the day his wife Lilly (Jane Kaczmarek) passed away. At first, they seemed like straightforward memories stirred up by external sensory triggers. As the season went on, though, they became stranger. Lilly would appear in the Boroughs, glitching like the monsters do in video footage and begging Sam for help.

Turns out, these weren't just memories. They were Mother trying to communicate.

As the oracular Manor resident known simply as the Duchess (Mary Mcdonnell) tells Sam in episode 7, Mother doesn't experience time in a linear fashion. Because of this, she communicates with people by looking like someone from their past. She mostly makes contact with the Manor's dementia patients, who are similarly unmoored in time. Sam is an exception. He's still grieving Lilly, and according to the Duchess, that loss "split" his mind.

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"You've got one foot stuck with us now, and the other on the day she died," she reveals.

That connection allows Sam to find and rescue Mother with the help of the rest of his friends. He returns her to a cave in the old mine shaft, where she chooses to die in a glowing explosion alongside her kids (and Blaine).

Contrast Mother's embrace of death with Blaine's abject fear at the thought of aging and dying. No matter how long he tried to put it off (killing who knows how many Boroughs residents in the process), even he has to face the truth that everybody dies. As Sam puts it, "Join the club."

To thank Sam, Mother offers him the gift of a small bit of time with Lilly: not as a memory, but as herself. The two share a sweet dance, one that offers closure on Season 1's thoughtful examination of just how overwhelming grief can be. Have the tissues handy.

What was the deal with the cave and peach tree in The Boroughs? Clarke Peters in "The Boroughs." Credit: Netflix

The cave where Mother dies is the same cave where Art (Clarke Peters) discovered the peach that briefly restored his health. Mother's kids had been preparing it for her eventual death, explaining why the tree was adorned with beautiful glass ornaments.

The peach gets less of an explanation, though. How did it have the same healing powers as Mother's blood if Mother was all the way in the Boroughs? And why did the tree immediately wither after Art picked it? Perhaps it all goes back to Mother's birth. Did the presence of her egg or the act of her hatching impact the tree's growth and any fruit it might produce?

SEE ALSO: 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' review: If this is the future of Star Wars, I don't want it Why was Sam glitching at the end of The Boroughs?

While Mother and her kids are gone by the end of The Boroughs, their supernatural impacts linger.

In the season's final scene, Sam goes to the bathroom to apply a new bandage to his head wound. As he does so, his reflection glitches in the mirror, similarly to how Mother's kids glitched in video footage. What's happened to Sam?

The Boroughs leaves that question open-ended. However, it's clear that his time with Mother left a supernatural mark on him. Perhaps this alteration stems from the time Mother gifted him with Lilly. (Sweet!) Or maybe he got a little Mother blood in his mouth when she exploded. (Gross, but I'm not ruling it out.) Mother was also adamant that only Sam accompany her to the cave, so she may have known he would be changed by her death. Whatever the case, Sam is still linked to these creatures, leaving the door open for more adventure.

Are The Boroughs' monsters aliens?

We've witnessed Mother's death, but The Boroughs doesn't really give us clarity on her origins. Sure, we know she hatched from an egg, but how did that egg get in the mines in the first place? Who is Mother's Mother?

My guess? There are some alien shenanigans afoot. The Boroughs draws serious inspiration from E.T., even casting star Dee Wallace as Grace in its opening scene. Could those references go beyond homage and hint at the series going beyond Earth? The show's setting of New Mexico, home to Roswell and its theorized UFO crash site, also feels intentional.

But the most compelling argument for alien involvement is the show's very last shot, which pans from the rooftops of the Boroughs up to the stars. Between that shot and John Paesano's swelling score, The Boroughs suggests that further adventures await in space. Could Mother and her kids' people be living out there, looking down on the Boroughs?

Is there going to be The Boroughs Season 2? Alfred Molina and Denis O'Hare in "The Boroughs." Credit: Netflix

Between Sam's glitching and the very pointed look to the stars, The Boroughs has set up some juicy story threads to follow in a potential Season 2. As yet, Netflix has yet to renew the show for a second outing.

The Boroughs is now streaming on Netflix.

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Two's company, three's a crowd. And in this case, the third wheel in your relationship happens to be lurking in your back pocket. Yep, it's your phone.

We spend a great deal of time thinking about our relationship with our smartphones — our shame-inducing screen time, our inability to watch our favourite TV shows without second-screening, our over-reliance on AI to complete everyday tasks.

But, what about the role our phone plays in our relationships? Is your iPhone inadvertently creating friction in your once-harmonious union? Does your significant other secretly resent just how often you look at your phone when they're talking to you? Does your partner annoy you intensely when they lie in bed and scroll on their phone next to you?

It's no secret that we spend a lot of time on our phones. Research shows that couples spend over a quarter (27 percent) of their time together using their smartphones. Not only that: in the same study, researchers also found that when partners choose to interact with their phone instead of their significant other, it can decrease relationship satisfaction and wellbeing.

SEE ALSO: Dating apps feel broken. But these couples found love anyway.

The impact of tech on our relationships is something we shouldn't ignore. 35 percent of people say that being on their phone makes them feel less willing to be intimate with a partner, according to research by sex toy brand Lovehoney. For millennials, that figure is even higher — 45 percent of whom feel this way.

I spoke to psychotherapists and couples counsellors to find out which of our phone habits could be damaging our relationships.

Reaching for your phone after sex

Reader: it happened to me. I was lying in bed with a man after getting intimate. We were both naked, our legs entwined. Usually, this is a time for deep chats, laughter, and softness. But, instead of enjoying this moment of tenderness, he reached for his phone and began scrolling. Any closeness that I'd felt in that moment immediately evaporated. The moment was gone.

My experience is not unique — 25 percent of people are reaching for their phone straight after sex, according to Lovehoney research.

Matthew Bernarda, licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) at Twelve South Recovery, advises against using your phone after intimacy. "This is the moment of greatest vulnerability between two partners. When one of them immediately reaches for the phone that moment does not end naturally," says Bernarda. "It is abruptly interrupted. The partner without the phone feels ignored and feels like that moment was less important than the notification that just arrived. Unfortunately, what I see in practice is that that feeling is remembered for a very long time."

"This is the moment of greatest vulnerability between two partners."

Bernarda adds: "The most expensive thing you can give your partner costs nothing. It is your full presence. And ironically the thing that is stealing it fits in your pocket."

Phubbing

The term "phubbing" is a portmanteau of the words phone and snubbing and it refers to the act of ignoring your partner to scroll on your phone instead. Phubbing can show up in various forms: answering phone calls or scrolling on one's phone during a conversation, texting others while you're in the middle of quality time together, or checking social media. You might not even realise you're doing it, but it can leave your partner feeling unimportant, ignored, disconnected and even disrespected.

"Even the smallest distractions from communication can make another person feel ignored," says Bonnie Lambert, LMFT at Crestview Recovery.

Lambert says "partial attention" in relationships can cause problems even if it's unintentional. "It is possible to be physically in one place, but mentally somewhere else, which can slowly erode the emotional bond between people," she says.

Natasha Davalt, licensed associate marriage and family therapist, says "micro-disconnection" is a big problem in relationships. "It is not about a single event, but rather an ongoing one, where a person keeps checking the phone in the middle of a conversation, does not really listen, and responds slowly," says Davalt. "After a while, this will signal to the other person a competition for their attention, thus losing connection."

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Trust is foundational in relationships. Bernarda says reading your partner's messages without permission is the digital version of going through their pockets.

"It ruins trust in a relationship and it shows that the person going through the phone is looking for proof that everything is okay," he says. "But here is the thing. The act of going through the phone is proof itself that something is wrong. And that something has nothing to do with the phone."

Repeated monitoring of a person's online communication is a coercive control behaviour. If you feel unsafe and have been experiencing coercive control, call the National Domestic Violence Helpline (U.S.) 800.799.SAFE (7233). If you're based in the UK, call 0808 2000 247.

Parallel scrolling for hours on end

I happen to be a fan of spending time in companionable silence — that delicious shared quiet where neither person feels the need to talk because you're so comfortable with one another. And sometimes, that harmonious comfort can take the form of parallel scrolling, both of you dissociating as you have a bit of time on TikTok or Insta. In short bursts, it can be lovely.

"...the illusion of closeness..."

But clinical psychologist Dr. Daniel Glazer, co-founder of U.S. Therapy Rooms, advises against parallel scrolling for hours on end.

"The majority of couples I have worked with as a clinical psychologist did not start out with phone usage as an issue within their relationship; however, it is how many couples will allow themselves to use their phones that may ultimately be the downfall of their relationship," he says.

If parallel scrolling goes on for too long, it allows both individuals to "into separate digital world for hours."

"In psychological terms, parallel scrolling allows the partners to create the illusion of closeness while at the same time decreasing the emotional connection between them," he says. "Over time, many couples begin to stop sharing random thoughts, laughter, or brief periods of intimacy due to the lack of spontaneity created by digital distractions."

Using your phone to avoid conflict

It's not fun having difficult conversations. And for the conflict-avoidants in the room (hi!), our phones can become a crutch; a means to avoid getting into the nitty gritty of it all.

"The phone has also become a shield," says Kendall Maloof, who holds a PhD in clinical psychology and is clinical director at Eagle Creek Recovery. "When partners need to have an uncomfortable conversation, in most cases, one of them reaches for the phone."

Using your phone like this means you're physically present but emotionally unavailable. "What I find interesting as a therapist is that in most cases, the partner who does this is not even aware that they are doing it. It is simply a learned defense mechanism that activates every time the situation becomes uncomfortable," says Maloof.

What to do instead

Now that I've told you what NOT to do, with therapists' advice, it would only be fair to give you some alternatives. Here are a few small, achievable tweaks that can make all the difference in your relationship.

• If you and your partner enjoy parallel scrolling, consider giving yourself a finite window of time before stopping and doing something else.

• Lambert says "one of the healthiest things a couple could do is to find ways to set apart time each day without their phones." You could try not using phones at mealtimes, keeping phones out of the bedroom, or scheduling dedicated quality time sans phones. Davalt echoes this, recommending setting up phone-free periods, even if they're just short breaks.

• After sex, avoid reaching for the phone. Enjoy the closeness between you and your partner.

• If you notice that you've been on your phone a lot, don't beat yourself up. Instead: turn to your partner and ask them a question about your day.

• "When your partner talks to you, physically put your phone down, turn towards them and make eye contact," says Ruta Drungilaite, founder of A Twist of Date, which specialises in creative date night ideas.

• When your partner enters a room or returns home, acknowledge them or greet them instead of continuing to look at your screen, suggests Drungilaite.

• "Say good morning to your partner before you check your phone," Drungilaite adds.

JLo once sang "my love don't cost a thing" (banger). And she was right. Some of the most valuable things in a relationship are time and attention. Give them to your partner, not your phone.

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

Example.

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

MODEL

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A thick material.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 25, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

TWEED

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Parent's sister.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 25 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 25, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

AUNTY

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Australian dog.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

DINGO

Final Hurdle hint

Octo.

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

EIGHT

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The Moon is brighter again tonight, with most of its surface now illuminated as we head towards the Full Moon.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Monday, May 25, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. Tonight, 69% of the moon will be be lit up, according to NASA's Daily Moon Guide.

When you look up tonight, without any visual aids, you'll be able to spot the Mares Crisium and Fecunditatis, as well as the Tycho Crater. If you have binoculars you'll also be able to catch a glimpse of the Endymion Crater, Apennine Mountains, and the Clavius Crater. Finally, with a telescope you'll see the Apollo 16 and 17 landing spots and the Rima Ariadaeus.

When is the next Full Moon?

There are two Full Moons in May, with the next due to take place on May 31.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the Moon takes around 29.5 days to orbit Earth completely, passing through eight phases during that time. While the same side of the Moon always faces Earth, the way sunlight hits its surface changes throughout its orbit, creating the familiar full, half, and crescent appearances we see in the night sky. Altogether, the lunar cycle consists of eight main phases:

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 love a good deal.

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 May 25, 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: On sale

• Green: Just a smidge

• Blue: Phone lingo

• Purple: I see you

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Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Common promo items

• Green: Tiny bit

• Blue: Texting abbreviations

• Purple: Eye___

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 #1079 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Common promo items: CAP, PIN, SHIRT, STICKER

• Tiny bit: JOT, SCRAP, SHRED, WHIT

• Texting abbreviations: ATM, CYA, LOL, TIA

• Eye___: BALL, BROW, LASH, LID

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 May 25, 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 yesterday's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you served your country.

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 May 25, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Thank you

The words are related to a holiday.

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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe a military day of observation.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Memorial Day.

NYT Strands word list for May 25

• Service

• Virtue

• Protecton

• Sacrifice

• Memorial Day

• Honor

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 yesterday's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you like to stop by.

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 May 25, 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 May 25, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

To drop by.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creators today

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter I appears twice.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter V.

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...

VISIT

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 yesterday's Wordle.

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Unlike no-name apps that promise fluency without substance, Babbel takes a human approach and was developed by over 100 expert linguists and backed by researchers from Yale University. It’s designed to help you actually speak a new language with confidence — whether you’re prepping for a trip abroad, connecting with family, or hoping to boost your career.

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You’ll get access to 14 languages and 10,000+ hours of high-quality content. Lessons are short and made to fit into even packed schedules — just 10 to 15 minutes — and available on desktop or mobile, with progress synced across devices. You can even download lessons to practice offline, whether that’s on a flight or in a Wi-Fi dead zone on the subway.

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The government’s A.I. Security Institute, staffed by alumni from OpenAI and Google, is becoming a model for countries grappling with A.I.’s emerging risks.

Demand for security engineers has surged as artificial intelligence generates a glut of new code and models like Anthropic’s Mythos create new concerns.

Though open earbuds share the common feature of sitting on the exterior of the ear, they come in many shapes and sizes, from clip models to ear hook models. Some are more geared toward working out, while others are better for everyday use. The Bose Ultra Open earbuds are an especially popular pick, thanks to their sound quality and many colorways, but at $299, they're far from your only (or most affordable) option.

SEE ALSO: The 11 best wireless earbuds we've ever tested

Below, we've compiled some of the best open earbud models available in 2026, after testing out options from Soundcore, Sony, Shokz, Bose, and more budget-friendly options.

What are open earbuds?

Open earbuds allow you to get as close as you possibly can to the feeling of not wearing earbuds at all. Unlike in-ear earbuds which sit in your ear canal, open earbuds sit just outside your ears (as the name would suggest). Some models hold the speaker component in place with an ear hook while others opt for an ear cuff.

SEE ALSO: We tested the top fitness trackers of 2025: See our favorite wearables and smart rings

People generally opt for open earbuds for three main reasons:

1. They provide a private listening experience while leaving you almost completely aware of the world around you. It's like the best transparency mode you've ever used.

2. For some people, not having an earbud physically in their ear is generally more comfortable.

3. The hooks and cuffs (along with the general awareness of your surroundings) make them a great option for keeping them in place, and keeping you alert, while you're working out, working, or simply existing in the world.

What are the drawbacks of open earbuds?

As you may have gathered from the section above, open earbuds don't come with active noise cancellation. That's mostly thanks to how much sound they let in (by design) and the difficulty of cancelling out sound without having the device covering your actual ear canal.

Also thanks to the whole open ear-canal situation, these aren't going to be the earbuds for audiophiles. That's not to say open earbuds sound bad — if you've never tried them, we promise they sound much better than you're imagining — but you will lose out on some of the nuance of a song without having the earbud actually in your ear.

SEE ALSO: I tested sleep earbuds for over a month: Here are the 3 I'd buy

That said, many pairs still have equalizers on their companion apps to help you make them sound their best. Our best picks for sound, the Bose Ultra Open earbuds and Shokz OpenFit Pro earbuds, even have spatial audio features that work surprisingly well.

Most open earbuds will also boast some form of special technology that keeps them from leaking too much sound. While these pairs do pretty well in keeping the sound just to you, most pairs (including our picks) while be prone to some leakage, especially at higher volumes.

Finally, some open earbuds — mainly those with ear hooks — tend to have slightly bulkier cases. If you like to travel especially light, it's something to be aware of.

What about bone conduction headphones?

Bone conduction earbuds work exactly like the name implies they do — they use your skull to conduct sound waves, instead of projecting the sound into your ear, like most of the picks are on list. Typically, a band runs from either side of the users head to help hold the headphones in place.

Shokz, the brand behind our top pick, is a popular maker of these kinds of headphones. While we do consider them open earbuds, we have yet to test any bone conduction earbuds — look out in the future for that update. On that note:

What's next in our testing pipeline

The open earbuds market is rapidly expanding, so we'll be testing more as we can get our hands on them. We recently added the Sony LinkBuds Clip and Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro to this guide.

In addition to the earbuds that made our initial guide in May 2025, we tested out the Nothing Ear (Open) earbuds ($149), the Sony Linkbuds Open ($199.99), the Anker Soundcore AeroClip earbuds ($169.99), and the Shokz OpenFit Air ($119.95). While none of the above were bad earbuds by any means, we found our picks to outshine them in their comfort and sound quality, especially when considering their respective prices.

When college students seek out attorney Adrienne Hahn, they're often petrified and desperate: An instructor has accused them of using artificial intelligence to cheat. 

Suddenly, students are racing to successfully defend themselves or risk the implosion of their college career. In some cases, sanctions that result from an academic integrity violation, such as a semester-long suspension, have devastating implications. After all, graduate schools, prospective employers, licensing boards, and the government often consider cheating disqualifying.  

"Any of those consequences follow the student from that period on, unless you negotiate that away, somehow," said Hahn, founder of the education law firm Hahn Legal Group, APC.

SEE ALSO: How to defend yourself against AI cheating accusations

While there's no tally of how many American college students have faced AI cheating accusations this academic year or previously, the legal firms that specialize in education law are very busy handling their cases. Some of their clients are wealthy, attend the nation's most prestigious universities, and can afford legal representation.

Others come from modest backgrounds, are enrolled at state colleges, and have few financial resources. Hahn said the fallout can be particularly devastating for students attending college on a scholarship.

What these students all share in common is the real fear that AI cheating accusations will destroy their future before it's even begun. 

AI cheating accusation at school: getting to the truth

Hahn's firm represents students across California. She said the volume of their inquiries has skyrocketed in the past two years.

Many students accused of cheating didn't actually use AI to complete an assignment or test, Hahn says, or they don't realize their use of AI violated a policy that may not have been clearly communicated.

Some students do use AI, but share extenuating circumstances. One student Hahn represented incorporated AI into their classwork at a moment of intense personal distress: They held down multiple jobs and both of their parents were experiencing health crises. The school administration was sympathetic to the situation and avoided an overly punitive consequence after Hahn lobbied against it.

But there are students who don't disclose unfavorable or damning information about their AI use, only for Hahn's team to discover it during the investigation process. 

"I can't give you the right advice unless I know the truth," she said. "I still have clients who lie to me. That's a waste of their money and time."

The cost for hiring representation varies based on the case, but it can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands when a student decides to involve the courts.

How a lawyer can help

At LLF National Law Firm, there are as many as 250 clients at any given time working with counsel on AI-related academic integrity violations, said Thomas Terrill, director of the firm's National Education Defense Practice Group.

Terrill said AI-related cheating cases now make up a substantial portion of LLF National Law Firm's caseload. Like clockwork, inquiries spike during midterm and final exams.

While lawyers can't represent students at their school's administrative hearings, Terrill said that legal expertise can "level" an uneven playing field in which administrators hold tremendous power over students' lives. 

In Terrill's experience, some schools try to fairly evaluate AI cheating accusations. Yet, he's also dealt with rushed investigations, limited access to evidence, and presumption of student fault based on a misunderstanding of how AI works.

"Many students feel they are in the position of proving their innocence rather than the institution meeting a clear burden of proof," Terrill said in an email.

The lawyers Mashable interviewed had strong opinions on this dynamic. Andrew Miltenberg, the senior litigation partner at the law firm Nesenoff & Miltenberg, observed that the balance of power tilts away from the student and toward the "faculty fiefdom." Some professors, he said, enjoy surprising leeway in making and adjudicating AI cheating charges.

Miltenberg characterized the AI programs they rely on to "check" for cheating or plagiarism as "primitive" and prone to false positives.

What lawyers recommend to accused students

Once a student is accused, they need a defense strategy.

LLF National Law Firm advises its clients to gather evidence of their authorship and work process, which can sometimes be substantiated by Google Docs or Microsoft Word history. Timestamps, outlines, notes, and research materials are also important.

Terrill said the firm reviews metadata, compares a student's writing samples, and looks over the instructor's communications about the assignment in question.

Other factors, like neurodivergence and being a non-native English speaker, matter too. AI detection tools, which faculty often rely on, may falsely flag those students' work more frequently than their neurotypical, English-speaking peers, according to Terrill.

If the charge is based on the finding of an AI detection tool, Terrill said it's crucial to know which program, because it may allow the student to challenge its reliability.

Preparing for a rapid timeline

Students don't have much time to collect the necessary evidence, said Miltenberg.

That's because, in his experience, academic integrity cases unfold much faster than other misconduct or integrity cases, which may take months to investigate because they involve sex discrimination, harassment, or sexual assault.

"It happens boom, boom, boom," Miltenberg said of AI cheating allegations.

A student could be accused on a Tuesday, meet with an administration official two days later, and be given an ultimatum that Friday. If they don't agree to a sanction, the charge will move to a hearing board, an institutional panel that reviews the case and decides the student's fate.

"It really moves very fast," Miltenberg said. "So it doesn't lend itself to someone getting their balance after what most students feel is a gut punch."

SEE ALSO: California's Gavin Newsom tries to save workers from AI with executive order What resolution looks like

Hahn said administrators told students she later represented that they shouldn't hire a lawyer. She believes that's largely because university and college investigation offices are "completely buried" by AI cheating cases and want them resolved as soon as possible. Legal representation can, of course, extend the process with requests for evidence and so on.

Hahn described one case in which a student was accused of AI use in a math assignment because they didn't cite a specific formula. The professor failed the student as a consequence, an outcome that Hahn managed to get overturned.

In some instances of disclosed AI use, Hahn and her team know the administrators and can appeal to them for an alternative sanction before the hearing that won't jeopardize the student's future. That might stringent parameters for continuing their education, such as probation or a required medical leave of absence.

"The dismissal or failures — that will follow them for life," she said. "If they can get back in and finish their degree — it was a bad moment in their life, but they can overcome it. People have bad moments in their lives."

Leniency, however, is not much of an option if the student has a history of cheating or academic integrity violations.

Why suing is complicated

Lawsuits are a dicey strategy because courts will not grant students anonymity in these cases, Miltenberg said. So suing the school means a student must "out" themselves to "get justice," he added. The resulting court documents will be publicly searchable and include the student's name in association with an academic integrity violation.

Miltenberg said the way these cases are currently handled puts every student in a potential bind.

"There is no clear path at any institution right now," he said, noting that any appearance of cheating can trigger an investigation. At the same time, what that looks like is subjective to the faculty member or teaching assistant who made the allegation.

TL;DR: Get a near-mint condition refurbished MacBook Air for $269.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air (2018) 13" i5 1.6GHz 8GB RAM 256GB SSD Gold (Refurbished) $269.99
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New MacBooks are great, but not everyone needs the latest chip to get real work done. This MacBook Air refurb is a good computer for the basics, and it’s on sale for $269.99 right now (reg. $1,399).

This may be a refurbished model, but the Grade A rating means it arrives in near-mint condition with minimal to no visible scuffing.

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Under the hood, you get a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. That combination handles everyday tasks smoothly, including web browsing, document editing, photo editing, and light productivity work. The SSD keeps boot times and app launches fast, which goes a long way toward making an older machine feel snappier than the year suggests.

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This model supports macOS up to Sonoma 14, so it still has a few more years of software compatibility ahead of it. It won’t update to macOS 26, so keep that in mind if long-term support matters. A 40-day third-party parts and labor warranty is included, and a wall charger comes in the box.

For basic tasks like drafting documents or browsing the internet, a brand-new MacBook is expensive overkill.

If you want the right tool for a smart price, get a MacBook Air on sale for $269.99.

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This version of Office isn’t about bells and whistles — it’s about smarter workflows. You get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, redesigned with a unified interface that feels cleaner, faster, and more intuitive. Plus, you can use it whether you’re on a PC or a Mac.

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Whatever occasion has you looking for dad gifts (Father's Day, Christmas, Hanukkah), we recommend that you stay far away from clichés — unless your dad happens to be an avid sock collector, that is.

The best gifts for dads say, “I see your hobbies and I respect them." Which has been the basis for this list of unique ideas that you may not have seen before. (We have three words for you: "Ryan Gosling" and "knitting".) This list is sure to have something your old man will love, from the latest Apple and Sony tech to menswear and ingenious gadgets. And with Father's Day fast approaching on June 21, there's no better time to treat him.

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.

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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 grain.

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

WHEAT

Hurdle Word 2 hint

To cover.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 24, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

SHADE

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

To dissect.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 24 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 24, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

PARSE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

To take control.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

SIEGE

Final Hurdle hint

A colored liquid.

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

PAINT

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