Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 5, #398

Weeee are the champions! Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 398 for April 5.

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.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle might be tricky. The words all relate to each other, and maybe to the NCAA tournament and baseball games going on, but not all of the words are easy to find. One of them, especially, is more a slang word than one I think of as an actual word, and it was tough to unscramble. (Hint: It describes three championships in a row by the same team.) If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go in-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: In it to win it.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Let’s go, team!

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:

BACK, BACKS, MACE, MACK, MACKS, SLAT, SLATE, TAPE, REGS, WEEP, WEEPS, MOCK, MOCKS, MAKE, COME, GAME, NAPS.

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 initially 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:

ROUT, RALLY, SWEEP, UPSET, COMEBACK, THREEPEAT

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GAMECHANGERS. To find it, start with the G that’s five letters down on the far left, and wind across.

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

Loss-of-Pulse Detection Alerts on the Pixel Watch 3 Are Finally Here

The potentially life-saving feature that detects if your pulse stops is officially rolling out on the latest gen Pixel Watches in the US.

The US rollout for the Loss-of-Pulse detection feature on the Google Pixel 3 starts today. The feature identifies when your pulse is lost and can automatically call emergency services if you’re unresponsive. You can expect a prompt will pop up on your watch to enable it. Don’t worry if it hasn’t happened just yet — the roll-out is estimated to last a few weeks.

Google announced the Loss of Pulse Detection feature in 2024 for select EU countries and received FDA clearance in the US in February.

The watch uses an AI-based algorithm and signals from the existing multipath heart rate sensor (the flashing green light on the back of the watch) to monitor your pulse. If it suspects your pulse was lost, additional sensor signals will be activated to search for the pulse or identify movement.

When nothing is detected, the watch prompts you with an initial check-in. If you don’t respond to the message on the watch and no motion is detected, a loud alarm will play, and a countdown will appear on the screen. Then, an emergency services call is placed on your LTE smartwatch or phone. An automated message about the loss of pulse and your location will be shared with emergency operators.

While the Loss of Pulse Detection feature wasn’t made for any one specific health condition, this is another feature added to the Pixel 3’s impressive catalog of safety and health features, such as fall detection and irregular heart rhythm notifications. As a Google Pixel user, I’m happy to see another feature in the medical safety space, especially for one in which immediate intervention is necessary.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 9, #1390

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,390 for Wednesday, April 9.

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 refers to a substance used in many foods. It’s also a hilarious punchline in my favorite Super Bowl commercial (outside of the Budweiser Clydesdales ads). 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 no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter W.

Wordle hint No. 4: Foods

Today’s Wordle answer is involved in both bread and beer.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer refers to a cereal grain that’s a staple in many parts of the world.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is WHEAT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, for April 8, No. 1,389, was SPARE.

Recent Wordle answers

April 4, No. 1,385: KRILL

April 5, No. 1,386: FOAMY

April 6, No. 1,387: VILLA

April 7, No. 1,388: HAZEL

Technologies

The 15 Best Mobile Games in 2025: Top iPhone and Android Games

From arcade classics to modern indie darlings, we’ve collected the best games you can carry in your pocket.

Whether you have an iPhone or an Android device in your pocket, you’re a part of the most popular (and arguably most profitable) segment of the games industry. There are 3.4 billion active mobile gamers in the world, according to Newzoo’s data analysts.

The world of mobile gaming is constantly evolving, and it’s easy to fall victim to choice paralysis when trying to figure out where to start. While you can still download games from your phone’s app store, you can just as easily boot up an emulator, stream Xbox Game Pass titles through cloud gaming or subscribe to the Apple Arcade service. There are more games available at your fingertips than ever before.

This carefully curated list includes the best games across both iPhone and Android that you can download right now, including older arcade-style classics and newer indie games that’ll push your mobile gaming experience to the next level.

FAQs

How we determined CNET’s best mobile games

When creating this list of the best mobile games, we factored in how unique and enjoyable these games are for most players, from impressive graphics to novel gameplay to compelling narratives. Our picks cover a variety of genres from deckbuilding roguelikes to tower defenses to shooters to fantasy RPGs, and while we favored classic mobile experiences that take advantage of simple control schemes, we also included some can’t-miss games that appear on multiple platforms. If you’re looking for help choosing your next game, CNET’s top mobile games list is a good place to start narrowing your choices.