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.

Birdwatchers — today’s NYT Strands puzzle is singing to you. Those of us who aren’t as familiar with our feathered friends may struggle. 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: What a trill!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Feathered friends.

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:

• WICK, WICKS, SOWS, ABLE, CARE, NEAR, LAID, DROW, RING, WING, BIRD, SHADE, COIN, SEEK, GIRD, NOIR, CHICK.

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:

• LARK, WREN, SPARROW, WARBLER, CARDINAL, CHICKADEE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SONGBIRDS. To find it, start with the S that’s three letters down on the far-left row, and wind down and across.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

The $599 iPhone 16E is Apple’s most affordable iPhone, and it shares many features with the $799 iPhone 16. But there are also some sacrifices you’ll need to make for that $200 discount. 

While some core components like the A18 chip, iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence are on both devices, there are notable differences across the phones’ cameras, designs and batteries. 

Here’s how the iPhone 16E compares to the baseline iPhone 16.

Display and build

The iPhone 16E and iPhone 16 both have a 6.1-inch OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate. The 16E has a peak brightness of 1,200 nits, while the 16 reaches 2,000 nits. A ceramic shield front and glass back are featured on each phone. 

The devices have an aluminum design and are about as heavy as each other, with the iPhone 16E weighing in at 167 grams and the iPhone 16 at 170 grams.

Both phones also have an Action button, but only the iPhone 16 has a Camera Control button. The Dynamic Island feature is also limited to the pricier model. The devices each have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. 

Apple drops the home button on its new budget phone in favor of Face ID, just like the iPhone 16. Both devices also have a USB-C port, and neither has a headphone jack.

The iPhone 16E comes in black and white, while the iPhone 16 comes in black, white, pink, teal and ultramarine.

Battery and storage

Both the iPhone 16E and 16 come in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options. Apple boasts that the 16E can get up to 26 hours of video playback and 21 hours of streamed video playback, while the 16 will last for up to 22 hours of video playback and 18 hours of streamed video playback.

One of the reasons behind the cheaper iPhone’s longer battery life is because it runs on Apple’s very first 5G modem, called C1. The company says its C1 modem is the «most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone» and as a result helps increase the phone’s battery life.

They each support 20-watt wired charging. The iPhone 16E supports 7.5W Qi wireless charging, while the iPhone 16 is capable of 15W Qi2 charging, as well as MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W with a 30W adapter or higher.

Cameras at a glance

You’ll find a 48-megapixel wide camera on both the iPhone 16E and iPhone 16, as well as a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera on the 16. To make up for its lower camera count, the 16E uses sensor cropping to get a 2x magnification for better zoomed-in shots (as does the iPhone 16). Both phones have a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.

You can shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second on each device. On the iPhone 16, you can shoot 1080p spatial video, but only at 30 frames per second.

Apple Intelligence for all

One of the biggest upgrades to Apple’s lower-priced iPhone is the inclusion of Apple Intelligence, which was previously confined to iPhone 15 Pro models and the iPhone 16 lineup. Now you can spend less and still get access to features like a smarter Siri, writing tools and the Clean Up tool in photos.

This move signals Apple’s eagerness to get its AI suite into more people’s hands, and indicates that AI is now a core component of any iPhone, from the cheapest option to the most premium. 

Check out the spec chart below for more details on each phone.

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 NYT Mini Crossword was going pretty smooth for me until I hit 7-Across. I had the final four letters, but it seemed like the first letter should be R, which would not work. Thankfully, 1-Down was so easy, I was able to figure it out from that answer. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. 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 at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Do some legwork?
Answer: SQUAT

6A clue: Deep, narrow valley
Answer: GULCH

7A clue: Worn and shabby
Answer: TATTY

8A clue: Word below «To» on a gift card
Answer: FROM

9A clue: $2.90, for a N.Y.C. subway ride
Answer: FARE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «___ Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band»
Answer: SGT

2D clue: Fancy word for «beverage»
Answer: QUAFF

3D clue: Prefix with marathon for a race over 26.2 miles
Answer: ULTRA

4D clue: Line memorizer
Answer: ACTOR

5D clue: Herb often paired with rosemary
Answer: THYME

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.