Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 11, #404

Do you want to play a game? Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 404 for April 11.

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.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be tricky. You’ll do well if you watch a lot of a certain kind of TV competition. (I don’t, so I did horribly today.) 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: Buzzing in

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Win big.

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:

READ, READY, DIME, CHOP, CHOPS, PASS, DREAD, DOME, DOMES, WORD, SHOP, SHOW, WORDS, PARE, SWORD.

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:

LINGO, PYRAMID, JEOPARDY, PASSWORD, CATCHPHRASE.

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GAMESHOWS. To find it, start with the G that’s five letters down on the farthest row to the 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

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Technologies

Lyrids Meteor Shower Peaking Tuesday: Get Outside and Watch the Fireballs

If you miss the peak, the Lyrids continue through Saturday.

If you’re up late or early this week, there’s some dazzling activity going on in the sky you can check out. The Lyrids meteor shower will reach its peak early Tuesday morning, when its barrage of space rocks meets the atmosphere in the eastern sky.

«You will begin to see Lyrids after 10 p.m. local time,» said Bill Cooke, who leads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. «This year, the light from the crescent moon will not interfere too much with the viewing, but it is best to look away from the moon, preferably placing it behind you.»

Read more: Here’s a Look Ahead at the Year in Meteor Showers

From Earth, Lyrids meteors tend to look unique, because they usually don’t leave the glowing trails of dust that often come with meteor showers. However, Lyrids meteors are known to create occasional «fireballs,» or bright flashes in the sky.

You’ll see it better away from the city

City lights make it hard to see the sky’s natural features. For the best chance to catch the Lyrids, head away from towns and suburbs to a dark sky in the country. Bring a blanket or sleeping bag, so you can gaze up.

For the best results, try not to look at your phone screen — the light from the device makes it harder for your eyes to adjust — and just stare up at the sky. TikTok will be there when you get back.

«In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt, and you will begin to see meteors,» Cooke said.

The point where a meteor shower appears to originate from is called the radiant. To find the radiant of the Lyrids, look near the constellation Lyra, which is where the Lyrid meteor shower gets its name.

The brightest star in the Lyra constellation is Vega. It shines so bright that careful observers might even spot Vega in an area with light pollution. For the meteor shower tonight, look away from the variant a bit, as the Lyrids will appear «longer and more spectacular from this perspective,» according to NASA.

Five or six meteors could be visible by 4:30 a.m. CT., Cooke said. But, in the past, the Lyrids meteor shower, which visits Earth every April, has surprised lucky skywatchers with as many as 100 meteors per hour.

The bits of space rock that create the Lyrids come from comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, named for A. E. Thatcher, who discovered it in 1861. The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers. We’ve got a full guide to the entire year in meteor showers.