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 NYT Connections puzzle is a fun mix. If you follow your horoscope regularly, you might solve the blue group right away. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times 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 the 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: Like haunted house weather.

Green group hint: Medicine you spread on skin.

Blue group hint: Crab, bull and lion are three more.

Purple group hint: Think Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Gloomy.

Green group: Ointment.

Blue group: Zodiac symbols.

Purple group: Muscular, minus «ed» sound.

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 gloomy. The four answers are blue, dark, down and low.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is ointment. The four answers are balm, cream, paste and rub.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is zodiac symbols. The four answers are archer, fish, goat and ram.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is muscular, minus «ed» sound. The four answers are jack, rip, shred and yoke.

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

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought the two shoe-and-also-bathtub-problem clues (1-Across and 1-Down) were pretty funny. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Slip-on shoe … or something you don’t want in your bathtub
Answer: CLOG

5A clue: Ancient artifact
Answer: RELIC

7A clue: In a most unusual way
Answer: ODDLY

8A clue: Springs in a mattress
Answer: COILS

9A clue: Raven’s haven
Answer: NEST

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Slip-on shoe .. or something you really don’t want in your bathtub
Answer: CROC

2D clue: Strung along
Answer: LEDON

3D clue: Boomer’s bop, nowadays
Answer: OLDIE

4D clue: Breathing organs for fish
Answer: GILLS

6D clue: Fluid-filled lump
Answer: CYST

I know we’re all excited for the upcoming iPhone Fold, but be wary of fake leaks — like the supposed unboxing video that’s been making the rounds online.

Upcoming phones will always be the subject of rumors and leaks, and no device is more hyped than the foldable that Apple has purportedly been working on for years. Lots of that early info points toward a release later this year during the usual September iPhone release window, which makes the lead-up fertile territory for falsified leaks like the aforementioned video. 

Unfortunately, with the advance of generative AI tools that fabricate videos based on text prompts and other inputs, it’s easier than ever to fake your way to internet fame. Nowadays, videos churned out by gen AI tools have the correct number of fingers on hands, better lighting and far fewer indicators that they’re inauthentic. 

But there are still some tells that you’re not seeing the real deal — both in the video and when it’s released.

First, let’s dissect the video. A person in a gray long-sleeved shirt or sweatshirt rotates a box labeled «iPhone Fold» and pulls it open. On the first watch, a lot of signature Apple elements are present. The product is tucked inside snug packaging and presented screen-side-out to the opener, and there’s both a charging cord and supplementary materials tucked underneath. It all looks authentic enough — at least believably not generated by AI. 

But AI or not, there are a few details that are strong evidence that this isn’t an actual Apple device. When opening the package, there’s a peel-off protector for the inner screen, not the outer. The multicolored insert claims the device is IP68 dust- and water-resistant, which is rare for foldables. Only the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Honor Magic V6, among a handful of others, have water-resistant ratings.

The device itself is suspect, and if not AI-generated, it’s likely 3D-printed. The cream-colored back makes an odd sound when scratched (unlike what glass or ceramic sounds like), and the device’s halves don’t fold neatly against each other — another thing that the design-obsessed Apple likely wouldn’t allow. What’s more, when it’s fully unfolded, the back of the supposed foldable has a big gap between both halves over the hinge, which other phone makers have solved in their flexible-screen devices.

There’s skepticism around its design, too. Yes, Apple’s patents point toward a wider style of foldables similar to the first Google Pixel Fold, but the supposed iPhone Fold in the video is so squat in its dimensions that its internal screen would make for bizarre dimensions that aren’t tall enough to fit the aspect ratio of, say, an iPad. 

iPhone Fold may or may not be the final name of the device, as rumors have disagreed for years on its product designation, with the most recent suggesting it could be deemed the iPhone Ultra. 

Since we don’t see it turn on, there’s no indication of how its software is laid out — which form of iOS or even iPadOS it might use. That makes this short, squat design even more suspect.

And then there are the factors outside of the video. Apple leaks happen, but we’ve only had a few pre-release leaks like CAD files, official renders or cases that agree on a design — and yet, this is supposedly the iPhone Fold’s final form, which looks somewhat but not completely like a recent CAD render. 

To the video’s credit, taking this many words to suspect and disprove its authenticity is a credit to its plausibility. There’s a lot of commitment to Apple staples, from product packaging to theorizing the final design of the foldable itself. If nothing else, it’s a functional guess at what the supposed iPhone Fold might look like, and how it might look coming out of the box. 

We’ll know in September at the earliest if Apple chooses to release its foldable in that window — and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of other leaks and rumors on the device before then.