Technologies

Best alcohol delivery services in 2021: Drizly, Saucey, Minibar and more

A New Year’s Eve Champagne shortage may be looming. Stock up now with the best on-demand booze delivery services in 2021.

This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2021, our list of ideas, by topic, by recipient and by price, to help you discover the perfect gift.

With a dismal Champagne harvest caused by extreme weather including frost and wildfires, there’s talk of a Champagne shortage looming for the holidays. While you shouldn’t panic and the chances of no bubbles being available is slim, to get the bottles that you want it’s better to be safe than sorry. Fortunately, the best online booze and wine delivery services are still flush with the good stuff, so you can get your favorite Champagne delivered now and be ready to pop those corks when the ball drops on New Year’s.

There are a handful of reliable liquor delivery services that make ordering alcohol to your door easy. Plus, ordering booze and liquor online generally means a bigger selection of beer, wine, spirits, hard seltzer or any other adult drinks you want. Many of these booze delivery services function just like Uber Eats or GrubHub, sourcing inventory from local liquor stores and then employing on-demand delivery drivers to get the goods to you, often in an hour or less.

Note that alcohol delivery laws vary by state, so not every service is available everywhere. Many states, however, have deemed liquor stores an essential service during the pandemic, and are allowing delivery of alcohol from restaurants and liquor stores where they may not have in the past. Inventory also varies by store and service, so if something is out of stock now it may come back in stock soon. We update this list periodically.

To stock up on craft beer, fancy booze, great wine and Champagne without ever having to put pants on, check out this list of the best wine and liquor delivery services to try in 2021. Just remember that the same rules that have always applied to alcohol apply now, perhaps more than ever: Enjoy wine and spirits in moderation and never drink and drive, but always tip your delivery person.

Happy ordering! For more, check out our roundup of the best online games to play with friends. You can also find out about the best meal kit delivery services, the best meat delivery and subscription services, the best coffee subscriptions and gourmet food and drink gifts to send to family and friends.

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Merging retro touches with a high-tech electric platform, the Slate Truck offers a customizable, budget-friendly alternative to traditional EVs.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #686

Hints and answers for Connections for April 27, #686.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle might make you hungry — especially if you spot the four words in the blue category. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Do the math.

Green group hint: Tresses.

Blue group hint: Munchies.

Purple group hint: Think Stockholm.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Calculator buttons.

Green group: Amounts of hair.

Blue group: Salty snack unit.

Purple group: Swedish ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is calculator buttons. The four answers are equals, minus, percent and times.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is amounts of hair. The four answers are lock, shock, thatch and tuft.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is salty snack unit. The four answers are Combo, Goldfish, Ruffle and Taki.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Swedish ____. The four answers are Chef, Fish, massage and meatball.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #420

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 420 for April 27.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Sleep used to be so simple, but now it can be complex, as we try to add in extra things to help us get that good night’s rest. Today’s NYT Strands puzzle highlights sleep assistance, and a few of the words are tricky. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Sleep tight

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Zzzzz…

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BEDS, MINE, TAKE, TAKES, TAKER, STAKE, LATS, EARL, PLUG, PLUGS, ROUT, MIKE, DATE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: