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

Today’s Wordle puzzle put a certain song about footwear in my head. If you like to guess vowels first, this is the word for you. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer, but one is the repeated letter, so you will see that one twice.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Elvis

Today’s Wordle answer appears in the title of a famous Elvis Presley song.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to leather with a napped surface.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is SUEDE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, May 23, No. 1434 was SHUCK.

Recent Wordle answers

May 19, No. 1430: PITCH

May 20, No. 1431: BORNE

May 21, No. 1432: ALARM

May 22, No. 1433: FOLIO

Looking for the most recent regular 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 and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition might be tough today. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.  

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

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

Yellow group hint: Think Memphis or Nashville.

Green group hint: Keeping track of the stats.

Blue group hint: Won the big game.

Purple group hint: Football is life!

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Tennessee pro teams.

Green group: Baseball stat abbreviations.

Blue group: Last four teams to win a Super Bowl.

Purple group: Soccer «cups.»

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

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is Tennessee pro teams. The four answers are Grizzlies, Nashville SC, Predators and Titans.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is baseball stat abbreviations. The four answers are HR, PA, SO and WHIP.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is last four teams to win a Super Bowl. The four answers are Buccaneers, Chiefs, Eagles and Rams.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is soccer «cups.» The four answers are Carabao, FA, MLS and World.

I knew something was wrong as I stood at the baggage carousel after a return flight from France and my trusty rolling suitcase was nowhere to be seen, even as my fellow passengers collected their bags one by one. My suitcase never dropped onto the carousel that day.

However, I knew there was no reason to panic. Before handing over my suitcase at check-in at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, I had tucked a sophisticated little tracking device into it. So, with just a few taps on my iPhone, I could see that my bag had apparently never left Paris. (Merde!)

Over the years, I’ve come to rely on Apple’s AirTags to keep track of just about all my easy-to-lose valuables. They’re not only good for suitcases, I also use them to track keys, bikes and even my car. I tell everyone who will listen that you can never have too many of these handy devices. That’s why I think it’s worth taking full advantage of the Memorial Day sales at both Amazon and Best Buy that slash the price of a four-pack of AirTags down to $75.  

Here’s how the Apple AirTag that was in my suitcase on that fateful trip works. It uses an ingenious method of tracking itself, detecting its location from nearby iPhones and using them to anonymously piggyback the coordinates to a secure server where I could look it up on my iPhone. Until just a few years ago, this would have seemed like a scene straight out of a spy movie.

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Instead of wondering if my belongings were stuck on an abandoned luggage cart or strewn across the tarmac, I could see in almost real time that my suitcase was still chilling at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. I was able to calmly tell the airline my bag didn’t make the flight, and it made arrangements to have it delivered to me a few days later.

Apple AirTags are all about peace of mind

By itself, an AirTag isn’t much. A 1.26-inch smooth round puck that looks like a glossy white breath mint, it sinks to the bottom of a bag or dangles from a key chain (with a compatible key ring, sold separately). It’s meant to disappear.

Activating the AirTag was a simple process of pairing with my iPhone. And then, because it obviously doesn’t really do anything out of the box, I forgot about it.

But the next time I couldn’t find my keys? Sorcery. My iPhone didn’t just tell me they were somewhere nearby — it walked me directly to them, thanks to the AirTag’s built-in Ultra Wideband chip. Suddenly, all that time I’d spent retracing my steps and overturning couch cushions in the past felt like ancient history.

Now I have AirTags in or attached to every significant item I’d want to keep track of: My everyday laptop bag, my camera backpack, the suitcase I use most when traveling, my key chain, my car and a smaller sling bag I take on walks. I can pull up the Find My app on any of my Apple devices (or sign in to iCloud on any web browser) and see where my items are and the last time the AirTags registered their locations.

AirTags aren’t just for my everyday items. People I know in the movie business tell me that AirTags are tossed into nearly every bag and Pelican crate, not solely to ensure that the valuable equipment inside doesn’t walk away but to quickly differentiate equipment amid similar looking containers. Some of my friends also attach AirTags to their pets’ collars (though experts say there are better ways to track pets).

AirTags are also useful for things that you want to keep close by

Being able to detect my luggage a continent away provided a sense of relief, to be sure. But at the local level, my AirTags will also trigger an alert when I get too far away from them. For example, if I accidentally forget my camera bag in the car when I stop somewhere for lunch, a Find My notification appears telling me I’ve left it behind. It works the same for newer AirPods models as well.

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Sharing is now a big part of AirTag tracking

My family has two cars, and I wanted to be able to track them both. But it used to be inconvenient to pair the AirTag in the car my wife drives to her iPhone (and the one in my car to my iPhone).

To guard against unwanted tracking, an AirTag will notify nearby iPhones of its existence, so whenever I drove my wife’s car without her in it, I got a notification that an AirTag was traveling with me. (If the owner is near the AirTag, the alert does not appear.)

However, ever since the release of iOS 17, AirTags are shareable, which solves this problem. I shared my AirTag with my wife, and she with me, so regardless of which car I’m driving, I can find it more easily in a crowded parking lot without getting constant, unnecessary alerts.

A new feature to AirTags that arrived with iOS 18.2 is the ability to temporarily share an AirTag’s location with someone I trust. In my luggage example above, if the suitcase was in the airport with me, but the airport’s staff hadn’t yet been able to locate it (not uncommon during peak travel times), I could share its location with an attendant who could quickly retrieve it from areas inaccessible to the public.

Apple AirTag specs

• Diameter: 1.26 inches (31.9 mm)
• Height: 0.31 inches (8 mm)
• Weight: 0.39 ounces (11 g)
• Splash, water and dust resistance: Rated IP67 (maximum depth of 1 meter up to 30 minutes)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
• Battery: Replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery

The only minor annoyance about AirTags

An AirTag includes Bluetooth, the U1 Ultra Wideband chip and an NFC chip to share basic details when it’s in Lost Mode. That’s all powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery, which in my experience lasts roughly a year before I need to replace it.

I get notified when a battery is starting to get low, although there’s no gauge to see how much is left until it goes into the red. And it’s easy to change batteries. But my small fleet of AirTags means I need to swap multiple ones each year. I buy them in packs of 20 that I slowly work through.

AirTags also make great gifts

Apple AirTags consistently appear in our gift guides throughout the year because you can always find another use for one. They’re often reduced in price when sold in packs of four. And there’s an ever-growing ecosystem of ways to mount them, from sturdy vaults that adhere to a car to discrete fabric holders that will keep your favorite classic bomber jacket from flying away. Whenever I show someone how I use AirTags on a bag or keychain, I kind of wish I had a pocket of AirTags to hand out because once someone sees how it works, they’re sold.

Looking to save on more things that’ll make your life easier? Check out our roundup of all the best early Memorial Day deals going on now.