Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 7 #675
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Jan. 7, No. 675.

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 is easier than some have been. Once you learn the topic, the words come pretty easily. But 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: Open wide.
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Brace face.
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:
- MIST, SOIL, RICE, LICE, RUDE, LUDE, BRUSH, TOOT, RIDE, RIDER
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:
- DRILL, FLOSS, MIRROR, FLUORIDE, TOOTHBRUSH
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is DENTISTSOFFICE. To find it, start with the D that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind up and then across.
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Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 7, #941
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Jan. 7, #941
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 rather tricky. The purple category is especially mystifying. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times 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 the 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: Lookalikes.
Green group hint: Part of something.
Blue group hint: National symbol.
Purple group hint: Squish down.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Doppelgänger.
Green group: Portion.
Blue group: Common flag symbols.
Purple group: Pressed using a press.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is doppelgänger. The four answers are clone, double, mirror and ringer.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is portion. The four answers are concern, interest, share and stake.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is common flag symbols. The four answers are crescent, cross, star and stripe.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is pressed using a press. The four answers are cider, garlic, trousers and wine.
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Technologies
The Clicks Communicator Phone Is My Favorite Thing at CES
Technologies
Meta Hits Pause on a Key Plan for Ray-Ban Display Glasses
Still, it unveiled new features for the augmented reality glasses at CES 2026.
If you want to buy a pair of Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses, you may be in for a long wait, especially if you live outside the US.
Meta said in a blog post Tuesday that a combination of strong demand and «extremely limited inventory» of the new augmented reality glasses, introduced in September, has caused it to pause a planned early 2026 expansion to the UK, France, Italy and Canada. It noted that current product waitlists now extend deep into this year.
«We’ll continue to focus on fulfilling orders in the US while we re-evaluate our approach to international availability,» a company spokesperson wrote in the post, which also detailed news items related to CES 2026.
Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Smart glasses are having a boom moment as 2026 gets underway, with technology companies investing heavily in eyewear as a home for cameras, displays, microphones and no small amount of AI features. Google and Xreal, for instance, just introduced their Project Aura glasses, coming this year, and it’s widely expected that Apple will join the fray in the coming months.
Meta became the standard-bearer for the field with its earlier Ray-Ban designs, and is hoping to build on that momentum with the Ray-Ban Display model, distinguished by the miniature display in one lens and a wrist-worn neural band that serves as a controller.
In his review of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, priced at $800, CNET’s Scott Stein called them an impressive new technology even as he expressed some misgivings. «These Display glasses are like prototypes, but the landscape is changing fast, and Meta will need to perfect the next generation further.»
Ramon Llamas, research director for mobile devices at IDC, said that Tuesday’s announcement should be seen as a delay, rather than something more dire, and that the strong early response for the Display should be encouraging to Meta.
Because the Display Ray-Bans are a first-generation device, Meta likely kept the volumes relatively low, Llamas said. «Better to limit the supply and address any bugs and adjustments before mass producing them.»
Technology analyst Daniel Burrus echoed that sentiment, noting the many factors — disparate certifications, privacy rules and regulations, language barriers and retail servicing — that Meta must consider for international orders. «Meta’s pause on international orders doesn’t feel like a stumble, rather a ‘let’s not scale too fast’ decision,» he said.
New Ray-Ban Display features announced at CES
Meta also revealed a few new features that are coming for the Display glasses, including a teleprompter and finger-writing.
The Display’s teleprompter feature, coming sometime this week, allows wearers to give a speech or a presentation while a «discreet teleprompter» with customizable text-based cards scrolls in their field of vision at whatever speed they choose.
The finger-writing feature, called EMG handwriting, is available for early access today. Using the Display glasses with the neural band on the wrist, you can write with your finger on any surface. The Neural Band will turn the writing into a digital message that you can send via WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
You can sign up for early access to new Display features here.
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