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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 MashableHere are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Tuesday, January 28, 2025:
AcrossMagic accessory for Gandalf the GreyThe answer is Staff.
The answer is Cigar.
The answer is Amaze.
The answer is Levee.
The answer is Press.
The answer is Scalp.
The answer is Timer.
The answer is Agave.
The answer is Fazes.
The answer is Frees.
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 GamesAre 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.
One of President Donald Trump's first actions after last week's inauguration was to sign an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, as well as Denali to Mount McKinley. Now Google has announced it will follow Trump's directive, changing how these landmarks are labelled in Google Maps.
While Trump's order alters the U.S. government's official position regarding the Gulf of Mexico and Denali's names, it does not specifically direct companies to follow suit. Even so, Google confirmed that its Maps app will be renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Denali in an X post on Monday.
"We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps," Google wrote (with at least a few of those questions coming from Mashable). "We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources."
SEE ALSO: Google and Apple Maps still list Gulf of Mexico, not America, per Trump's order Tweet may have been deletedThe Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is the U.S. government's official source for geographic features' names, maintaining records and standardising information across the country. As of Monday, the GNIS has not yet been updated to reflect Trump's executive order, and still lists the sea and mountain in question as the Gulf of Mexico and Denali respectively.
However, Trump's directive included a 30-day deadline for the name changes to be completed and all references to the Gulf of Mexico removed. Google has thus stated that it will wait until the GNIS amends its records before switching over to the new Trump-mandated names.
"When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the U.S. quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America," wrote Google.
I never ever under any circumstances install chrome plugins, but I will install one that makes it display Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America on Google maps.
— MC Frontalot (@mc.frontalot.com) January 28, 2025 at 11:56 AMThe tech giant also confirmed that Google Map's name changes won't only be visible to U.S. users. Rather, the "Gulf of America" and "Mount McKinley" labels will be visible to everyone who uses Google Maps regardless of the country they're in. This is due to Google's "longstanding practice" of handling labelling inconsistencies by deferring to a landmark's official name in the country where it's located.
"When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name," said Google. "Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too."
As such, we can reasonably expect Google Maps to change its label for Denali to Mount McKinley across the globe in the near future, as the mountain is located entirely within U.S. borders.
In contrast, the U.S. does not own the Gulf of Mexico/America, which is also bordered by Mexico and Cuba. It therefore appears likely that while U.S. Google Maps users will see the gulf completely renamed to "Gulf of America," international users may see the new name alongside its internationally recognised label "Gulf of Mexico."
Mashable has reached out to Google for comment.
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Opens in a new window Credit: Readdle Limited PDF Expert Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription (Mac) £64.21 at the Mashable ShopPDFs are great until you need to edit one — then they can feel like an unsolvable puzzle. With PDF Expert Premium, you’ll never have to wrestle with your files again. This powerful £64.21 (reg. £112.38) tool puts you in full control of your PDFs, making edits, annotations, and organisation simple.
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FREE BOOKS: The latest Stuff Your Kindle Day takes place on Jan. 28. Hosted by Romance Book Lovers, this Romance Book Blast features 1,000 books for free.
It felt like a really long wait for the last Stuff Your Kindle Day, but we've only had a few days between that drop and the next event hosted by Romance Book Lovers. We're not complaining. The more free book events, the better.
Stuff Your Kindle Day provides an incredible opportunity to stock up on hundreds (or even thousands) of books for free. We get that this sounds too good to be true, but this author-organized event really does drop the price of e-books to absolutely nothing. And the books that you download are yours to keep. Where's the catch? There isn't one.
SEE ALSO: The Kindle Paperwhite made me enjoy reading books againThis latest Stuff Your Kindle Day is focused on romance books. Hosted by Romance Book Lovers, this Romance Book Blast features 1,000 books that are available to download for free. And on the hub page, everything is organized into helpful subgenres so you can find exactly what you're looking for without hassle. Subgenres include Steamy Romance, Sports Romance, Romantic Comedy, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Romance.
Want to make the most of the latest Stuff Your Kindle Day? We've lined up everything you need to know about this popular event.
When is Stuff Your Kindle Day?The Stuff Your Kindle Day calendar is busy. The most recent events took place in December (Indie Author Winter Wonderland Event and Dark Mode Books Giveaway) and earlier in January (Cozy Mystery Book Club).
And on Jan. 28, Romance Book Lovers are running a Romance Book Blast with 1,000 books available to download for free.
Who can take part in Stuff Your Kindle Day?The beauty of Stuff Your Kindle Day is that anyone can participate. You don't even need to own a Kindle to get involved.
Kindle, Kobo, and Nook readers can download these free e-books. You can even download these books on your preferred app and read them straight from your phone, as you can also find these free titles on the Google Play and Apple Books apps.
Which e-books are free?Finding all these free romance e-books is straightforward thanks to Romance Book Lovers. There's a helpful hub page with 12 subgenres listed out. By following those links, you are directed to shopping links to Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Nook, Smashwords, Google, and more retailers.
Is Stuff Your Kindle Day the same as Amazon Kindle Unlimited?Everything you download on Stuff Your Kindle Day is yours to keep, and there's no limit on the number of books you can download. Stuff Your Kindle Day downloads don't count towards the 20 books per month that Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow, so don't hold back.
Shop Stuff Your Kindle Day deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Kindle (16GB) + 3 Months of Kindle Unlimited $109.99 at AmazonThese super popular e-readers help you take your entire library on the go. With weeks of battery life and an anti-glare display, you can read anywhere and anytime with the Kindle. They start at $109.99, a great price for those on a budget, but if you want to save even more, you can get three months of Kindle Unlimited absolutely free during Stuff Your Kindle Day.
Kindle Unlimited costs $11.99 per month and allows you to borrow up to 20 months per month. For a limited time, you can get three months of Kindle Unlimited for free, saving you $35.97.
Featured Video For You Kindle Paperwhite vs. Kobo Clara Colour: Which one is better?TL;DR: Live stream Sri Lanka vs. Australia for free on 7Plus. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
Australia are coming off a really strong Test match series victory over India, so they'll be confident of keeping the good times going in Sri Lanka. Of course, playing away from home is always a challenge. The pitches will be unfamiliar, the crowds will be passionate, and the weather could pose a problem.
Australia and Sri Lanka are all set to battle it out in two Test matches and two ODIs. If you want to watch Sri Lanka vs. Australia (1st Test) for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Sri Lanka vs. Australia (1st Test)?The 1st Test between Sri Lanka and Australia takes place from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2. This Test match takes place at the Galle International Stadium.
The full schedule for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka is as follows:
Sri Lanka vs. Australia (1st Test) — Jan. 29 to Feb. 2
Sri Lanka vs. Australia (2nd Test) — Feb. 6-10
Sri Lanka vs. Australia (1st ODI) — Feb. 12
Sri Lanka vs. Australia (2nd ODI) — Feb. 14
The good news for fans is that every ball of this tour is available to live stream for free.
How to watch Sri Lanka vs. Australia for freeSri Lanka vs. Australia (1st Test) is available to live stream for free on 7Plus.
7Plus is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can access free live streams of Sri Lanka vs. Australia from anywhere in the world.
Access free live streams of Sri Lanka vs. Australia by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia
Visit 7Plus
Stream Sri Lanka vs. Australia for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Sri Lanka vs. Australia (1st Test) without committing with your cash. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to live stream this Test series before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for 7Plus?ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live cricket on 7Plus, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including Australia
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
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Up to eight simultaneous connections
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A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.
Live stream Sri Lanka vs. Australia (1st Test) for free with ExpressVPN.
TL;DR: Live stream Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles for free on TVNZ+. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The Big Game is finally here, and it's going to be glorious.
The Kansas City Chiefs are on a mission to become the first team to ever win three straight. Standing in their way are the Philadelphia Eagles, fresh from smashing the Washington Commanders 55-23 to win the NFC championship. This is the second time that the Eagles have made it to this stage in three seasons, so everything is set up for something special in New Orleans.
Looking for the best way to watch Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles for free from anywhere in the world? We have all the information you need.
When is Chiefs vs. Eagles?Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles starts at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 9. This fixture takes place at the Caesars Superdome.
How to watch Chiefs vs. Eagles for freeKansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles is available to live stream for free on TVNZ+.
TVNZ+ is geo-restricted to New Zealand, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These helpful tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server based in New Zealand. This process bypasses geo-restrictions to unblock TVNZ+ from anywhere in the world.
Access free live streams of the NFL by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in New Zealand
Visit TVNZ+
Live stream Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading services do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. Sign up for these deals to access free live streams of the NFL, and it won't cost you anything in the long run. This is obviously a short-term fix, but it's possible to live stream Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for the NFL?ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream the NFL live, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including New Zealand
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure
Fast connection speeds
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95, saving you 49% on list price. As part of this deal, you also get three bonus months of coverage plus a whole year of unlimited data backup via the cloud and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Live stream Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
There are lots of reasons to equip your outdoor area with speakers: Maybe you like to dine outside, throw garden parties, or simply kick your feet up and relax when the sun is out. You could always just blast a playlist from your smartphone's speaker, of course, but it never sounds great. If you're serious about music, treat those with the respect they deserve. Invest in a purpose-made outdoor speaker.
You can think beyond your own outdoor space, too. In the Bluetooth-connected world, you can pair your smart device and play music just about anywhere. So, if you're a regular picnicker or traveller, it's good to have a portable Bluetooth speaker that you can use in just about any outdoor space — the park, the beach, the poolside, wherever.
Finding a good pair of speakers is straightforward when you're building a sound system for inside your home, but finding the same kind of high-quality audio for the outdoors can be tricky. You can't use the same speakers for your living room as you do in your garden. Not only can they not withstand the weather, but indoor speakers just aren't built to carry audio in wide-open spaces. Read on for a guide on sweet-sounding outdoor speakers, plus a selection of the best options in 2025.
Are wired or wireless speakers best for outdoors?Ultimately, it depends how, when, and where you use them. Wireless speakers are great for their portability, which makes them super convenient, but wired outdoor speakers are likely to be more powerful, more dependable, and less susceptible to interference. And with wired speakers, you'll never have to worry about recharging the battery or walking too far out of Bluetooth range. Those are definite perks when you’re throwing an all-day, all-night party and want to mingle with your guests. Outdoor wired speakers also tend to be better at filling large spaces with an even distribution of sound, especially since you can hook up several around the garden.
Wireless speakers — which usually work via Bluetooth — have their plus points, too. Bluetooth speakers can stream audio content from your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or other Bluetooth-capable device. Sometimes, these speakers will also allow for hands-free capabilities through voice assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant. The other bonus is that you can take them to the party, so you're not bound by one location. You can also take a portable Bluetooth speaker to the park, the pool, or on holiday.
But — because of where we are with speaker technology technology right now — there are speakers that effectively fill both roles, delivering massive sound more typical of wired speakers while also offering Bluetooth and streaming technology.
Can you mount outdoor speakers?Mounting wired speakers around your outdoor living area is an ideal choice when you have the space to place them on walls or under decks. Often, these speakers are sold in pairs and have a stereo configuration with left and right inputs to help fill your space with more complex audio. The only downside is that they have a more limited range of projecting sound as they can only be tilted so far without literally hitting a wall.
If your outdoor space is further away from mountable opportunities, however, you could opt to hide your setup in your landscaping with some in-ground speakers instead. It will involve the careful burying of some wires, but it's a great choice for dispersing audio more evenly as many ground-level speakers boast 360° sound. The only caveat? Whichever option you choose for your outdoor listening, you'll want to ensure that they are actually designed to be used outside.
Are outdoor speakers waterproof?While on your search for outdoors speakers, look out for keywords like "weatherproof" and "water-resistant". Most outdoor speakers will clearly let you know that all the electrical stuff is safely housed inside a weather-resistant shell. This means it can withstand the elements, including rain, snow, and extreme temperatures.
A high waterproof rating is standard with portable Bluetooth speakers, but less common on mountable wired speakers. That said, it's common for wired outdoor speakers to be labelled as weather-resistant rather than waterproof. If you are concerned about wild weather, you might opt to place your speakers under some sort of cover to offer them more protection.
What is the best outdoor speaker?We've tried to narrow down your options and compiled a roundup of top speakers for a wide range of people, budgets, and activities. We’re pretty confident you’ll find what you need to enjoy the outdoors without missing a beat. We've tracked down impressive devices from top brands like Bose, JBL, and Sonos. Just pick a favourite.
These are the best outdoor speakers in 2025.
A Chinese manufacturer just shocked a larger, complacent U.S. rival with a cheaper product that is significantly more customizable. News at 11.
In many industries, in the 21st century so far, this statement would not in fact be news; it would be such a familiar tale, few would bother mentioning it. But the old tale is noteworthy in this latest instance, thanks to the industry being Artificial Intelligence. Which, ironically, now seems to be an industry that was not very intelligent about obvious developments coming down the pike.
DeepSeek has taken off at a difficult time in the U.S., and not just politically. A divided country was just coming to grips with what AI means for business, for jobs, and whether the promised returns would be worth the investment that has been ploughed into (and by) U.S. companies. One thing few seemed to question was that a U.S. business would always be in the lead. No matter who was in or out, an American leader would emerge victorious in the AI marketplace — be that leader OpenAI's Sam Altman, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Google's Sundar Pichai, or for the true believers, xAI's Elon Musk.
ChatGPT appeared to have a grip on the public imagination, and Altman seemed to be the most media savvy public face of the AI salesmen, so — presuming he could stop having weird feuds over celebrity voices and isn't found liable for allegedly abusing his sister — probably him?
Now here comes Liang Wenfeng, founder and CEO of DeepSeek, with a face so unknown there isn't even, at time of writing, a photo on his Wikipedia entry, nor does the mighty Getty archive contain any picture of him. (He did show up at a Beijing Symposium last week, should you want to know what he looks like.) DeepSeek doesn't swim in the media-facing, market-facing waters of the posturing U.S. AI giants. All it has is a better product — a faster, way cheaper product that fulfills a promise Altman forgot: It's open source.
And in the flattened world of the internet, turns out, that's all you need.
A day in the life of DeepSeekOne day, that's all it took. One day for DeepSeek to vault to the top of the app charts on Apple and Google. One day for Nvidia's Jensen Huang to lose nearly $21 billion of his net worth, thanks to the biggest single-day loss for any stock ever.
Reports that DeepSeek may have been partly trained on sanctions-busting Nvidia chips didn't stop the slide, because DeepSeek's secret sauce is that it simply doesn't need as much computing power as other Large Language Models. DeepSeek isn't just cheaper and more customizable, it is up to 50 times more efficient than the top U.S. models. Which could be good news for the environment, and bad news for Nvidia, let alone any U.S. tech giant which have been gearing up their data center budgets and massively overspending on Nvidia chips (in other words, pretty much all of them — except Apple, which has wisely put Apple Intelligence to work mostly on the device itself.)
"Nvidia has basically been getting rich selling shovels in the midst of a gold rush," AI expert Gary Marcus, one of the deepest skeptics of the U.S. AI approach, wrote as DeepSeek news poured in, "but may suddenly face a world in which people suddenly require far fewer shovels ... building $500 billion worth of power and data centers in the service of those chips isn't looking so sensible either."
Indeed, an increasing number of companies may be able to avoid paying for cloud-based AI services at all. At costs of pennies on the dollar, executives will be able to download an open-source LLM that can be customized to fit their database and data needs. It doesn't need to be the absolute fastest and smartest AI, it just needs to be competitive with the fastest and smartest — which DeepSeek's R1 model apparently is.
SEE ALSO: Here's what DeepSeek AI does better than OpenAI's ChatGPTSo what has ChatGPT, and by extension Altman, got on its side? Why, in this fast-moving tech consumer world, where a competitor is only an app store tap away, would anyone stick with the app they know? Sure, many will for a while, but relying on the inertia of your customer base in the face of close-to-free alternatives is a great way to ... become the next AOL. ChatGPT's fall from grace could arguably happen faster than its ascendency in 2022, which in itself was practically overnight.
Which is not to say that U.S. AI companies are sunk. After all, they have an ongoing cyberattack and a protectionist U.S. government in their corner. Today's Washington is willing to pass the CHIPS act to prevent Chinese companies from accessing the latest U.S. chip technology, which evidently did not work, but it is also willing to ban TikTok, the kind of blunt tool that would work to stunt DeepSeek's scary-fast growth. Suspicions over what China could do with all the U.S. customer data its companies are acquiring are rife, and can always be stoked.
But what are you going to do? Keep banning every Chinese LLM that undercuts a bloated U.S. rival? At a certain point, that's playing whack-a-mole, and it ignores the point. If the market wants a super-cheap, super-efficient open-source AI, then American companies need to be the ones who provide them.
If Altman doesn't release a supposedly superior GPT 5 soon, and if he doesn't want OpenAI to be heading for the kind of long-term decline that has affected so many haughty U.S. tech companies in the past, then he needs to join DeepSeek and Meta in the ranks of AI makers that release open-source products.
And maybe concentrating on the carbon footprint of your AI model — a pretty good proxy for how inefficient it is — isn't such a bad idea after all.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. 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 What is Connections?The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for January 28 Here's a hint for today's Connections categoriesWant a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Someone who entertains
Green: Used for strength training
Blue: Candy bar, singular
Purple: Associated with "speed"
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Funny Person
Green: Resistance Training Equipment
Blue: Candy Bar Minus "S"
Purple: Speed___
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections #597 is...
What is the answer to Connections todayFunny Person: CARD, CHARACTER, JOKER, LAUGH
Resistance Training Equipment: BAND, BENCH, DUMBBELL, MAT
Candy Bar Minus "S": AIRHEAD, MAR, MOUND, SNICKER
Speed___: BUMP, CHESS, DEMON, DIAL
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 28Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
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 Connections.
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: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for January 28 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 January 28, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:High body temperature due to illness.
Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?The letter E appears twice.
Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...Today's Wordle starts with the letter F.
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...
FEVER.
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 January 28Reporting 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.
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 MashableBy 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 January 28 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 28 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Stable supplyThese words are things a cowboy might need.
Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explainedWords are related to horses in a stable.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer todayToday's spangram is HorsebackRiding.
Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for January 28Reins
Harness
Spurs
Saddle
Crop
Bridle
HorsebackRiding
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DeepSeek appears to be twisting the knife.
U.S.-based AI stocks took a tumble on Monday following the release of the China-based DeepSeek AI chatbot. The new product from the Chinese tech startup offers a more affordable large language model (LLM), presenting a competitive alternative to OpenAI's options like ChatGPT.
But DeepSeek wasn’t finished. By Monday afternoon, the company unveiled its latest innovation: Janus-Pro-7B, a cutting-edge AI image generation model.
SEE ALSO: DeepSeek AI might be smarter than OpenAI's smartest AI, and you can try it out nowDeepSeek claims its Janus-Pro-7B outperforms existing models such as OpenAI's DALL-E and Stable Diffusion. In a bold move that mirrors its approach with DeepSeek-R1, the company has made Janus-Pro-7B free and open source.
Like DALL-E, a user can input text describing a photo or artwork, and DeepSeek's Janus-Pro will provide the user with an AI-generated image. DeepSeek says that Janus-Pro can both analyze and generate images.
"Janus-Pro is a novel autoregressive framework that unifies multimodal understanding and generation," the company said in a technical report of the model. "It addresses the limitations of previous approaches by decoupling visual encoding into separate pathways while still utilizing a single, unified transformer architecture for processing."
DeepSeek provided AI-generated image examples of the improvements between its prior Janus model, which can be viewed below.
Credit: DeepSeekThough fairly new to the space, DeepSeek is already positioning itself as a formidable disruptor in the AI race, no doubt leaving industry leaders scrambling to adapt.
Dragons, fairies, and talking rats descended upon Madison Square Garden on Jan. 24 for Dimension 20's sold-out Gauntlet at the Garden — and the results were nothing short of a blast.
Led by Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan and starring "intrepid heroes" Emily Axford, Ally Beardsley, Brian Murphy, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Lou Wilson, Gauntlet at the Garden transported its thousands of audience members back to D20's New York City-set Unsleeping City campaign. That the cast was battling fierce enemies mere subway stops from MSG added an extra layer of intensity to the actual play show, but that site specificity was only the start of Gauntlet at the Garden's magic.
SEE ALSO: Brennan Lee Mulligan on the joys of 'Dimension 20: Dungeons and Drag Queens' Dimension 20's Gauntlet at the Garden brought the multiverse to Madison Square Garden. Credit: Kristy PuchkoGauntlet at the Garden kicked off with the return of all of The Unsleeping City's original player characters: Sofia Bicicleta (Axford), Pete Conlan (Beardsley), Kugrash (Murphy), Ricky Matsui (Oyama), Misty Moore (Thompson), and Kingston Brown (Wilson). Due to some multiversal shenanigans, the party learns that three enemies from other D20 campaigns are wreaking havoc in New York City. A Crown of Candy's Sugar Plum Fairy is creating a hellish candy land up near Lincoln Center, while A Starstruck Odyssey's Junkmother causes panic in Staten Island's Freshkills Park. Elsewhere, Fantasy High's Kalvaxus tears up Wall Street in search of — what else? — gold. (In keeping with the site specificity of an MSG show, I personally would have loved a climactic fight there instead of Wall Street, as the New York Stock Exchange served as a battleground in the first season of The Unsleeping City.)
SEE ALSO: Inside 'Game Changer,' the internet's favorite game showLuckily, our intrepid heroes didn't have to face these fiends alone. In Gauntlet at the Garden's biggest interactive moment, the audience got to roll along virtually on our phones in order to determine which allies from other D20 campaigns would be joining in.
Credit: Screenshot: Dimension 20The rolling mechanic was one of the many ways Gauntlet at the Garden enlarged the scale of a typical D20 episode in order to match its arena. The circular setup at the center of MSG recreated the feel of D20's usual campaigns, complete with lit-up triangular panels that matched the look of D20's set. Those panels changed colors during combat sequences or especially important Box of Doom rolls, and the whole of MSG followed suit, bathing the audience in red light and making us feel like we were in the D20 Dome. Screens above the set showed closeups of the players — a blessing if you were far from the ground or had a limited sightline on some players — as well as animations introducing PCs, enemies, and allies. Pyrotechnics and an oversized 20-sided die rounded out Gauntlet at the Garden's larger-than-life production, turning the show into a delightful mishmash between Dungeons & Dragons actual play and the theatrics of professional wrestling. (An impromptu wrestling match between Murphy and Wilson sealed the deal.)
Gauntlet at the Garden was a joyous fan experience. Credit: Kristy PuchkoOn top of Gauntlet at the Garden's three epic showdowns and the excitement of seeing these characters again, the show proved to be a joyous barrage of fan service. Much of this came down to the multiversal angle, with fans jumping into a frenzy at the arrival of allies like Gilear Faeth and Ayda Agueforth — complete with several "Hoot! Growl!" chants — or booing at the appearance of sinister Lord Calroy Cruller. (True to form, Mulligan embraced the heel role, hitting us with a classic, "I'm all the bad guys.") Inside jokes abounded as well — shout-out to Chronomancy, the greatest magic of all.
But Gauntlet at the Garden wasn't just an incredible experience for the fans — it was an incredible experience because of the fans.
Cosplayers throughout MSG set the tone for Gauntlet at the Garden, with audience members dressed as everything from PCs to Kugrash's Juicy Cockroach and Spicy Pigeon Spirit Totems. In the long, cold line to get into the arena, it was a treat to hear people complimenting one another on their cosplays — sometimes of the same character.
During the show itself, the phone dice rolling mechanic allowed for further bonding and excitement between fans. My seatmates and I compared rolls with glee, high-fiving when someone rolled a Nat 20, then promptly losing our minds when Mulligan revealed MSG had rolled a collective Nat 20. I've watched MLB grand slams and WNBA buzzer-beating threes live, and MSG's eruption at any Nat 20 roll captured that same sense of victorious euphoria as any major sporting event.
Because that's how Gauntlet at the Garden felt: Major. As Dungeons and Dragons continues to explode in popularity, not just as a game but as a form of live performance, Gauntlet at the Garden stands out as a turning point representative of how big actual play can truly get, and what level of spectacle it can achieve.
When shopping for the woman in your life, real romance isn't about the amount of money you spend or picking out the biggest bouquet of roses. It's about showing that you pay attention to her complaints, know what she likes, and appreciate what she does for you by gifting her something that makes her life easier. We're picking the bar up off the floor in 2025 with Valentine's Day gift ideas for women that are sure to please. Thoughtful, practical, whimsical, or appropriately mushy, these gifts go beyond the classic flowers and jewelry that you've already thought of.
Sorry, OpenAI (and Google and Meta and…).
A recently released AI model called DeepSeek from a China-based startup is currently wreaking havoc on the tech space in the U.S.
Why? Because it's blowing all other Big Tech models out of the water. And, to top it off, it's allegedly doing so with less funding and less technological resources.
Here's what the AI industry says about DeepSeek compared to OpenAI's leading chatbot, ChatGPT.
DeepSeek is actually openNow, regarding AI outputs, everyone might have a different opinion based on their specific use case. So, there are still areas where other AI models might beat DeepSeek's outputs.
SEE ALSO: Could Trump ban DeepSeek? What the TikTok ban saga tells us.For example, some users discovered that certain answers on DeepSeek's hosted chatbot are censored due to the Chinese government. That is true.
But, here's a fact: DeepSeek is open in a way that OpenAI said ChatGPT would be – and never delivered. In fact, as OpenAI sheds its original "open" ethos, DeepSeek went ahead and released its model as open-source. Anyone can download the DeepSeek R1 model for free and run it locally on their own device. This means your data won't be shared in any way with DeepSeek. In addition, as even DeepSeek pointed out, users can get around any censorship or skewed results.
DeepSeek is more affordable than OpenAIWhile OpenAI's training for each model appears to be in multiples of tens of millions of dollars, DeepSeek claims it pulled off training its model for just over $5.5 million.
And that price difference also appears to be passed on to the consumer.
API access for DeepSeek-RI starts at $0.14 for one million tokens or roughly 750,000 words. DeepSeek's latest model is reportedly closest to OpenAI's o1 model, priced at $7.50 per one million tokens. That's a pretty big disparity in pricing.
DeepSeek's outputs for certain tasks seemingly beat ChatGPTChatGPT and DeepSeek users agree that OpenAI's chatbot still excels in more conversational or creative output as well as information relating to news and current events.
However, the consensus is that DeepSeek is superior to ChatGPT for more technical tasks. If you use AI chatbots for logical reasoning, coding, or mathematical equations, you might want to try DeepSeek because you might find its outputs better.
For most queries, though, it appears DeepSeek and ChatGPT are on par, roughly giving the same output.
Even being on equal footing is bad news for OpenAI and ChatGPT because DeepSeek is entirely free for most use cases. Regular ChatGPT users may have to subscribe to its paid tier at $20 a month.
For companies utilizing AI-model API access, the price difference between two largely equivalent models may be too much for them not to switch from OpenAI's ChatGPT to DeepSeek.
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