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If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.

Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for February 16 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 16 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Flour power

These words are often used in baking.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

The words are different types of flour.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is GlutenFree.

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for February 16

• Corn

• Almond

• Chickpea

• GlutenFree

• Buckwheat

• Rice

• Tapioca

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: 8NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for February 16 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for February 16, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Charming and smooth in manner.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no reoccurring letters.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

SUAVE.

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for February 16

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

It is not the best time to be Drake.

The Canadian artist released a new album on Friday. So far it has not been well received. And that's putting it nicely.

And, in case the rock you live under doesn't have good WiFi, this came just days after Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show. Lamar devoted a good portion of that show — the most watched broadcast in the country, by far — to further annihilating Drake in the beef that Lamar already decisively won.

SEE ALSO: Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show is breaking the internet

So again: It is not the best time to be Drake, beyond, you know, the hundreds of millions of dollars in net worth.

The new album from Drake, in collaboration with PARTYNEXTDOOR, is titled $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. The album doesn't seem to dig too far into the beef with Lamar, referencing it mostly on the track "Gimme a Hug." Early reviews from critics have been pretty negative. And the album doesn't seem to be the internet's favorite — again, putting it kindly — at least thus far. The reactions on BlueSky, for instance, seem to range from indifference to loathing.

OMG THIS DRAKE ALBUM IS SO BAD

— Toure (@toure.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 12:53 AM

kendrick’s halftime performance was so good that drake literally released an album today and absolutely no one gives a fuck about it

— Emmett Initiative (@emmett.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 11:18 PM

Someone said Drake made a Valentines Day album for men and they are not wrong. Those are his fans now...women, esp Black women, jumped off that bandwagon when he started taking shots at our faves.

— Britni Danielle (@britnidanielle.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 1:54 PM

…for whatever reason i just do not care about this drake x pnd album. i feel like i already know exactly what it sounds like.

— Denver (@denver.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 12:54 AM

I see NOBODY talking about Drake album like not a soul that shit must be trash

— Somebody Thick Ass Mama 💖 (@gawgeous.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM

Please stop making fun of Drake for making this R&B album with PARTYNEXTDOOR. Instead, encourage him to stick to singing.

— I'm Gary Suarez of CABBAGES (@imgarysuarez.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 7:17 PM

Drake and PND put out a joint album?

[image or embed]

— bettynixx (@bettynixx.com) February 14, 2025 at 8:17 AM

Of course, it's not like everyone is universally negative about the album. Drake fans, of course, have rushed to its defense, and reviews on TikTok, seemed to be more mixed.

Still, lots of posts online about the album being bad have gone viral.

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted

So again, it's not the best time to be Drake.

With President Donald Trump back in the White House, all kinds of media and art will feel like it's commenting on him and his supporters. Some of it will be subtle; Bong Joon Ho's Mickey 17 is not. 

The celebrated director of the scathing satire Parasite returns with a parable set in a future where Earth is a man-made global disaster. There, a failed politician, who has a penchant for pursing his lips when he makes proclamations, launches a spaceship, stocked with many of his devoted followers. They don red baseball caps embroidered with his motto and hope to create a "pure planet" in the stars. 

It's blunt. And honestly, the similarities to America under Trump might hurt any hope for escapism. But notably, Mickey 17 isn't named for the narcissistic billionaire that is its villain. This heart-wrenching and inventive adventure is named for the average Joe who dumb-lucked himself onto a spaceship and into a massive change of fate. 

Robert Pattinson brings Jackass appeal to Mickey 17.  Robert Pattinson is a human printing in "Mickey 17." Credit: Warner Bros.

The backdrop to Mickey 17 is one of global politics, economic inequality, and fearmongering as a recruiting tool. But the core of the story is a good-hearted doofus named Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson). Fleeing a merciless loan shark, Mickey takes any job he can to get off-planet, signing up to be an "expendable" without reading the fine print on his contract. What he's consented to is to become the space colony's one-man crash test dummy. He'll be killed over and over in the name of science, only to be printed out again, with all his memories (of life and death) intact. 

Despite dying being a pretty common part of his routine, Mickey builds a life with the live-wire soldier Nasha (Blink Twice's Naomi Ackie). But after a mission gone weird, he returns to their bed to find not just his lover but another him. Mickey 18 (also played by Pattinson) was printed because the crew assumed Mickey 17 was dead. More bad news: "Multiples" have a bad reputation, which means their simultaneous existence could lead to them both being killed for good, with no more human printings. 

Like Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow (aka Live Die Repeat), Pattinson plays the clown in a daffy death montage, softening the blow of his repeated demise with a mix of physical comedy and a playful score of plinking piano and swooning strings. But where Cruise's army PR man was a cocky son-of-a-bitch, Pattinson's Mickey 17 is a real Jackass. 

In an interview with Empire, Pattison said that he'd attempted to mimic Jackass star Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville in his dual roles of Mickeys 17 and 18, but Bong shot the idea down. Still, fans of the stunts-and-shenanigans franchise might well still hear Steve-O in Pattison's raspy but open-hearted tone. And it's a smart allusion, subtly calling Generation X and millennials to remember the lovable goofball who'd risk his own neck (or nutsack) to please others. It's not that Mickey thinks of himself as noble in his human guinea-pigging. He's just happy to be of use, having little thought he's good for much else. By contrast, Mickey 18 is abrasive and volatile, less inclined to bend a knee to the powers that be. To survive, they must either join forces or turn on each other. And their decisions causes an electrifying upheaval in their space colony.

Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette give Trump with a hint of Okja.  Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette play Kenneth Marshall and his wife Ylfa in "Mickey 17." Credit: Warner Bros.

The two critically acclaimed performers are smartly paired as the braggadocious Kenneth Marshall and his right-hand wife Ylfa. Where the spaceship's inhabitants eat rationed gray sludge and wear uniforms to match, these two relish their lofty status and obscene wealth, dressing in flashy suits bedecked with shiny rivets or dresses so snug and violently colored they're a visual ambush. Like he did in the sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer and the fantasy caper Okja, Bong draws a dramatic contrast between the haughty haves, who feel their desires are exactly what they are owed no matter the human cost, and the gruff but lovable have-nots, who are expected to endure on sludge and scraps. 

Ruffalo embraces the buffoonery of this political performance, wearing distractingly white veneers as he mimics Trump's signature sneer and mercurial nature. Collette's Ylfa is less obviously tied to contemporary American politics. However, her fixation on luxuries — like ornate furnishings and exotic sauces — reflects the consumeristic colonialism that Bong openly condemns across his work. There's a willful lunacy in these heightened portrayals, where the caustic couple urges each other to grisly acts of violence in the name of their planetary conquest. And yet, for as far-flung in the future as Mickey 17 is set, it doesn't feel that far away.

Mickey 17 isn't a playbook of resistance but a parable of hope.  Robert Pattinson and Naomi Ackie play lovers in "Mickey 17." Credit: Warner Bros.

When cultures clash in Bong's movies, they often do so with dark humor and some juicy genre spectacle, a kind of candy-coating to make the medicine go down more easily. Mickey 17 himself is a sugary-sweet hero, whose softness is outright derided by more cynical members of the crew. Yet, this cavalcade of clashing crew mates — including Ackie, Steven Yeun, and Patsy Ferran — bring their own tasty charms through scenes involving kinky sex, party drugs, and animal noises. Then all this is folded into an alien world, where the natives are a compelling cross between pill bugs and elephants, soft and scurrying yet potentially powerful. Unexpectedly, they become a clever mirror of Mickey 17, underestimated but ultimately extraordinary. And in that is the lesson.

Mickey 17 is not hard or smart or even particularly special. He's an average dope who has been snookered by one bad deal after another. But in Mickey 17, he is the hero, thrown into an extraordinary circumstance that challenges him to adapt or die. But adapting doesn't demand becoming hard like 18. And in that Bong offers a ray of hope for those opposing a brutal authority.

The journey Mickey goes on is winding and wild, bucking the conventional flow of a sci-fi action movie, by being only gently sci-fi and barely action. Instead, Mickey 17 plays as a political comedy with cross-genre flare, ultimately urging the audience to see the similarities, and perhaps find our own inner Mickey 17. 

Mickey 17 premieres only in theaters on March 7, 2025.

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Saturday, February 15, 2025:

AcrossGoverning body of world soccer

• The answer is FIFA.

"___ is a world within itself, with a language we all understand" (Stevie Wonder lyric)

• The answer is Music.

Opposite of rough

• The answer is Gentle.

Pictures that employ the "flip camera" button

• The answer is Selfies.

Away from the ocean

• The answer is Inland.

Earthenware pot

• The answer is Crock.

Clark ___ a.k.a. Superman

• The answer is Kent.

DownCool bit of trivia

• The answer is Fun fact.

Admission of ineptitude

• The answer is I stink.

Smoothed, as fingernails

• The answer is Filed.

AAAA, in a deck

• The answer is Aces.

Pittsburgh's Carnegie ___ University

• The answer is Mellon.

Rom-com or thriller

• The answer is Genre.

"Totally awesome!"

• The answer is Sick.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Mini Crossword.