Technologies
New Google Maps features that’ll make your holiday a little better
There are five other Google Maps tricks you should start using now.

Christmas is just days away, so it’s time to start making the best use of your shopping and travel time. Two new additions to Google Maps arrived just in time to help you do that.
Expired shipping deadlines mean you’ll need to make in-person trips to the store, which can easily make the holidays more stressful. But an update to Google’s driving directions can help you figure out how to steer clear of crowds while you’re shopping and how to navigate around airports and transit stations if you’re traveling this month.
You can also use Google Maps to let your family know your whereabouts when you’re running late. Plus, you can book reservations through the app instead of calling a restaurant. We’ll tell you all the ways Google Maps can help make your holidays go smoothly and how to use all seven features.
Navigate through airports, malls and transit stations
If you need to quickly find a store in a large mall, Google Maps announced in November that it’s expanding its Directory tab for all airports, malls and transit stations. This can help prevent running around the airport, trying to find a place to eat or grabbing a last-minute souvenir before catching your flight. The tab will tell you the business hours and which floors it’s on. You can look through restaurants, stores, lounges and parking lots.
Browse Google Maps to see how busy a place is
Google added a new feature to its Google Maps’ busyness tool. Before, you needed to search a location, like a business, to see a chart that showed how crowded it is in real time. But now, a new feature called Area Busyness lets you see when entire map areas are clogged with people.
Using the new feature, you open the Google Maps app on your Android or iPhone (or your computer’s browser) and move around the map to find a general area, say downtown, a riverwalk or a quaint nearby town. The busyness information will now automatically appear on the map, so you don’t need to specifically search a place to see how crowded it is. Google Maps may say something like «Busy Area,» and when you click for more details, it could say, «As busy as it gets.»
Track your trip itinerary in Google Maps
Google Maps can chart your travels, but it can also quickly show you your holiday flight, hotel, car rental and restaurant reservations, saving you the hassle of searching through your email for check-in times and confirmation numbers.
To see your upcoming reservations:
1. In Google Maps, tap Saved in the bottom menu row.
2. Tap Reservations. Here, you’ll see a list of upcoming reservations you’ve made that Maps has pulled from emails in Gmail.
3. Select an item to see more about the reservation, including date and location.
4. You can also search for «my reservations» in the Google Maps search box to see a list of what you’ve booked.
Make a restaurant reservation right in Google Maps
Planning and preparing a holiday dinner can be a multiday chore. If you’d rather spend time with family and friends instead of sharp knives and hot stoves, Google Maps can help you book a lunch or dinner reservation.
1. In Maps, tap the Restaurants button at the top of the map to see a list of places to eat.
2. Select a restaurant that looks good, and in the window that pops up, reserve a table or join a waitlist, if it gives you that option (not all do).
Remember to use the «busyness» feature mentioned above to pick the least packed place. Also, note that some restaurants are still closed to dine-in, but will often allow delivery, curbside pickup or outdoor seating.
Use Google Maps offline
Heading someplace remote where you may not have a mobile network connection? Google Maps can still give you directions when you’re offline.
1. Before you head out, in Maps search for the location where you’ll want directions.
2. In the location’s window, pull up the menu at the bottom.
3. Scroll right through the tabs and tap Download and then, in the next window, tap Download again. Maps will download a map to your phone for the area you selected.
Now, as you use Google Maps for directions in the area you downloaded a map for, when you lose your cellular connection, Maps will switch to the offline map to guide you. Because you’re offline, Maps won’t be able to offer real-time traffic info, of course.
Find EV charging spots and gas stations wherever you are
If you’re taking your electric vehicle out for shopping, dinner or a holiday drive, Google Maps can help you find EV charging stations on your route, along with estimated wait times for a charging port. You can also filter your search by connector type — such as J1772, CCS (Combo 1 or 2) and Tesla — to see just the stations that are compatible with your EV. Note you can also search for gas stations by following these same directions.
1. In Maps, scroll through the tabs on the top of the screen and tap More.
2. Scroll down to the Services section and select Electric vehicle charging.
3. Maps will display nearby charging stations and how many are available.
4. Tap a charging station on the map to have Maps add it as a stop on your trip.
You can also use this trick to search for other places along your route, like a coffee shop.
Share your location through Google Maps
Is anything more crazy-making during a group activity than when the group gets split up and no one can find each other? Google Maps can help bring you all back together.
1. In Google Maps, tap your profile icon in the top right corner and tap Location sharing.
2. Tap Share location and select who you want to share your location with and for how long you want to share it.
3. Tap Share, and Google Maps will send your location to everyone you’ve selected.
4. If you want to see someone else’s location, tap that person’s icon at the top of the window and then tap Request.
If, after all this, you’d rather stay inside during the holidays, here’s how to use your Prime benefits to your advantage while shopping. And if you don’t intend to leave your couch at all, here are the best new TV shows to watch.
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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:
- MASK, EARPLUGS, MELATONIN, MEDITATION, MOUTHGUARD
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is BEDTIME. To find it, start with the B that’s five letters down on the farthest row to the left and wind across.
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