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I Hate When Steam Drops for Maintenance, but Now I Know When to Likely Avoid It

Gaming platform Steam is regularly, but briefly, down for maintenance — here’s how long it lasts and advice on how to avoid it.

You open Steam to boot up a game and get stopped by a warning saying Steam is down for maintenance. Frustrated, you wonder — how long will this gameless purgatory last? The short answer: It’s never certain, but it could be less than an hour if it’s routine maintenance or longer, depending on the issue being solved, especially if it’s an emergency fix. With some advance knowledge offered by Steam’s owner, Valve, however, you may be able to avoid or reduce maintenance windows.

In a support article for how it plans its routine scheduled maintenance, Valve offered guidance that it prioritizes uptime during business hours in the Pacific time zone (on the US West Coast) when as many of its staff are available to help with issues as possible. 

While Steam has a global user base that plays games on the platform around the clock, the company noted that the number of players peaks around 12 p.m. (noon) PT, and it bottoms out around 11 p.m. PT. Thus, when Valve needs to do planned maintenance, it’s scheduled for early mornings or late afternoon Pacific time to avoid peak time while still having staff around to address issues, the company noted in the support article.

When is Steam’s weekly maintenance?

Valve doesn’t announce when its platform goes dark for planned maintenance, nor does it have guidance on any of its social media accounts. But from various posts on the Steam support forum and Reddit, Valve tends to take Steam down for less than an hour for weekly maintenance on Tuesdays starting sometime between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. PT. 

However, there’s no notification system to warn you in-game when Steam’s servers go down, so be careful when playing in that window.

How do I check whether Steam is down?

Aside from booting up Steam yourself, you can check a third-party service to see if they’ve reported that the platform is down. The most robust is SteamDB, which monitors access within cities around the world to indicate potential regional outages. 

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, Dec. 1

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 1.

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.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on for the answers. 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: Tree that’s a symbol of Canada
Answer: MAPLE

6A clue: Back street
Answer: ALLEY

7A clue: Kind of steak with a letter in its name
Answer: TBONE

8A clue: Beer pong targets
Answer: CUPS

9A clue: «___ Pinafore» (Gilbert and Sullivan opera)
Answer: HMS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Show mutual interest, as on a dating app
Answer: MATCH

2D clue: «Bad» or «Good Kid, M.A.A.D City»
Answer: ALBUM

3D clue: Sits (down) heavily
Answer: PLOPS

4D clue: Contact ___
Answer: LENS

5D clue: Look here!
Answer: EYE

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 1, #434

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 1, No. 434.

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.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features one of those classic — and difficult — purple categories. You’ll need to look for words inside of words to get that grouping. (Or just solve the other three, and get purple by default.) If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Maybe on the beach.

Green group hint: Deal me in.

Blue group hint: Not necessarily Jim.

Purple group hint: Look at the final part of the words.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Volleyball terms.

Green group: Poker terms.

Blue group: Jameses.

Purple group: Ends in an NWSL team.

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 volleyball terms. The four answers are dig, serve, set and spike.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is poker terms. The four answers are blind, flop, river and turn.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Jameses.The four answers are Cook, Harden, Shields and Worthy.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in an NWSL team.The four answers are balderdash (Houston Dash), concurrent (Kansas City Current), foreign (Seattle Reign) and microwave (San Diego Wave).

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Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 1, #1626

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 1, No. 1,626.

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 is a little tricky. Many people will confuse it with a similar word that’s spelled differently. 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

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with L.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with H.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to causing a liquid to drain away from something such as soil or ash.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is LEACH.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Nov. 30, No. 1625 was MUGGY.

Recent Wordle answers

Nov. 26, No. 1621: HOVEL

Nov. 27, No. 1622: REMIT

Nov. 28, No. 1623: COLIC

Nov. 29, No, 1624: GRUFF

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