Technologies

How to Watch March Madness Without Cable

Check out the best streaming options to watch the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments without cable. Get game schedules and streaming details.

Hoops fans have some huge March Madness games to look forward to this weekend for the men’s NCAA tournament and the women’s tournament. If you are wondering how to watch all of the Elite Eight games today and tomorrow and the Final Four and national championship games next week, you’ve come to the right place.

We’ve done the work for you and figured out the best ways to watch or stream March Madness. You don’t need a cable or satellite TV subscription to watch either tournament.

How to watch March Madness

For the men’s tournament, you need only two apps for $23. Between Paramount Plus and Max, you can stream every game live. Paramount Plus will show every game broadcast on CBS, and Max has the games shown on TBS.

For the women’s tournament, you will need a live TV streaming service to watch every game on ABC and ESPN.

Three of the five major live TV streaming services offer all four channels needed to watch the rest of the men’s and women’s tournaments.

For more, check out our live TV streaming services guide and our recommendations for the best sports streaming services.

A cheaper streaming option than a live TV streaming service is available for watching the men’s tournament. The $13-a-month Paramount Plus with Showtime plan will get you the men’s tournament games broadcast on CBS, and Max’s $10-a-month Basic with Ads plan will show the men’s games on TBS.

How to watch the March Madness tournament free

Go to the NCAA’s March Madness Live site or use its March Madness Live app and you’ll be able to watch games free. You can watch March Madness Live on iOS and Android devices along with Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Xbox. The app also supports AirPlay and Chromecast. As with most things that are free, there’s a catch. Without proving you’re a pay TV subscriber, you get only a three-hour preview, after which point you’ll need to log in to continue watching.

You can also use an indoor antenna hooked up to your TV to watch the men’s games on CBS and the women’s games on ABC. Quality antennas cost as little as $20. See our comparison of indoor antennas here.

March Madness tournament schedule

Here are the remaining schedules, round by round, for the men’s and women’s tournaments:

Men’s March Madness schedule

Elite Eight: March 29 to 30
Final Four: Saturday, April 5
National championship: Monday, April 7

Women’s March Madness schedule

Sweet 16: March 28 to 29
Elite Eight: March 30 to 31
Final Four: Friday, April 4
National championship: Sunday, April 6

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 24 #539

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 24, No. 539.

Looking for the most recent Strands answers? 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.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a tough one. Long words, short words, they’re all over the map. 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: Plug your ears.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Check the decibel level.

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:

BLAST, LAST, LABS, TING, STING, BOOT, DENT, DENTS, GOON, NITS, SIRE, STIR, RISE, ROSE

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 have 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:

LOUD, NOISY, BOOMING, BLASTING, STRIDENT, BOISTEROUS

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is HUBBUB. To find it, look for the H that’s five letters down on the far-right row, and wind backwards.

Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Aug. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 24.

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.

Today’s Mini Crossword cites one of my favorite childhood shows in 6-Across. Hint: Think of a red-headed comedian who was famous for tugging her ear and for some classic commercial parodies — and who is still with us at age 92. Need answers for today’s NYT Mini Crossword? Read on. 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: Perch for a family photo
Answer: SHELF

6A clue: Burnett with a variety show from 1967 to 1978
Answer: CAROL

7A clue: Plant that yields mezcal
Answer: AGAVE

8A clue: Deceptive ploys
Answer: RUSES

9A clue: «You’ve gotta be kidding me!»
Answer: YEESH

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: How a leap of faith might feel
Answer: SCARY

2D clue: Dutch seat of government, with «The»
Answer: HAGUE

3D clue: What many pencils can do that magic markers can’t
Answer: ERASE

4D clue: Holds dear
Answer: LOVES

5D clue: _ and blood (kin)
Answer: FLESH

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 24, #805

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Aug. 24, #805.

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 real mix. The green category reminds me that the puzzle editors love to find common words that have second meanings that are somewhat rare. Hint: «Rent» doesn’t only mean money you pay to a landlord. 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: Cheers!

Green group hint: You don’t want this to happen to your pants.

Blue group hint: Sssss…

Purple group hint: Do this with a phone.