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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 October 26 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for October 26 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Sing-song

These words are melodic.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words are types of songs that are sung.

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 VocalMusic.

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for October 26

• Aria

• Lullaby

• Spiritual

• Jingle

• Vocalmusic

• Ballad

• Shanty

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for October 26 SEE ALSO: Mini crossword answers for October 26

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 October 26'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 October 26 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 October 26 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Cause a large amount of damage.

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 W.

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...

WREAK.

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 October 25

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.

Connections is the latest New York Times word game 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 October 26'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.

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Each 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.

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Players 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 October 26 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Disarrange hair

• Green: Long string of texts

• Blue: Relaxing places to sit

• Purple: Circular-shaped objects

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Fluster

• Green: Series of Messages

• Blue: Places to Lie/Sit That Move

• Purple: Cylinder-Shaped Things

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 #503 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Fluster: FAZE, RATTLE, RUFFLE, THROW

• Series of Messages: CHAIN, CHAT, CONVERSATION, THREAD

• Places to Lie/Sit That Move: CRADLE, HAMMOCK, ROCKER, SWING

• Cylinder-Shaped Things: CAN, ROLLER, SILO, SPOOL

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 October 25

Are 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.

"You're not ugly; you're just not doing your makeup according to your facial contrast," starts one of the over 52,000 videos of women using the "What's your contrast" filter on TikTok.

SEE ALSO: 'Beetlejuice lips' TikTok trend celebrates the natural creases of your lips

The latest trend in beauty filters plays on women's insecurities to sell products, encouraging users to classify their faces based on the contrast between their features. The filter turns your face black and white, providing a model that categorizes faces into high, medium, and low contrast types. However, the standard for comparison is rooted in Eurocentric beauty ideals, offering only three skin tone options: light, medium, and dark. It suggests that the darker your features appear against your skin, the higher contrast you should assign to yourself. Each contrast level is linked to a recommended makeup style — low contrast calls for subtler looks, while high contrast leans towards bolder, more striking makeup.

In a video that's been viewed over 5 million times, the creator of the filter, @alieenor, a French makeup artist, says, "As someone who had very low self-confidence, this is one of my missions on earth to help women be confident in themselves. Help them use makeup to their advantage and not work against them." She pitches contrast theory as a tool to liberate yourself from insecurity and finally feel beautiful.

Her logic, as with any TikTok beauty trend, harmfully conflates self-worth with appearance — and prizes White European beauty above all else. 

She argues, "It's an important factor to know about yourself." And explains, "If you're high contrast…in order to have a balanced face, you should add some kind of intensity. If you don't, it's okay. You understand why you look washed out." She talks about how discovering contrast theory helped her realize, "This makeup is not for me, it's not because I'm not beautiful."

While @alieenor might have created the filter in good faith to help women feel confident, it engages in a dangerous ideology that empowers "feeling beautiful" at whatever cost. In recent years, the beauty industry cleverly rebranded beauty as a form of self care, giving us all the excuse of "it makes me feel good!"

SEE ALSO: Slugging, gua sha, rice water, and more: How stolen cultural beauty practices feed viral videos

Positioning contrast theory as a quick fix for low self-confidence sends a particularly harmful message to teenage girls—especially in an environment where algorithms are known to exploit their insecurities. A 2021 CDC report found that one in five teen girls felt persistently sad and hopeless, a 21 percent increase since 2011.

Creator @alieenor's explanations of medium, low, and high contrast have garnered 11.7 million, 1.7 million, and 7.2 million views, respectively. Despite contrast theory’s popularity on the platform, it faces significant criticism.

"This is another bogus trend that only works for fair skin and I'm going to prove it to you guys by doing high contrast versus medium contrast makeup on brown skin," said Monika Ravinchandran, a beauty creator, in a video. She goes on to argue that sorting people with really dark skin as low contrast, invalidates "full glam Black girl makeup." 

"There's a reason Desi bridal makeup and the UK Black girls all eat up full glam," continued Ravinchandran. "Brown skin slays in high contrast makeup. Darker skin absorbs more light, so we actually need more dimension and we can take more color." By dictating what type of makeup suits different skin tones, critics argue that the theory also implicitly dictates what doesn't suit certain skin tones — essentially labeling those choices as unattractive or undesirable.

In the long history of TikTok beauty trends, contrast theory is nothing new. It follows in the footsteps of color analysis, the eyebrow filter, and the perfect face ratio filter. It's high time body neutrality gets its viral filter moment. But a filter like that would struggle to break into TikTok’s algorithm — especially since it wouldn't drive product sales or allow creators to earn commissions from promoting beauty products.