Tech

Today's NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for May 31 #819

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 NYTStrandspuzzle was a bit challenging. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about therules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visitCNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is:Places to go.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Travel time!

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:

MUST, TOUR, TART, ROAM, CATS, CAST, STEAL, MARK, STAR, STARE, REST

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:

MUSEUM, BEACH, CASTLE, MARKET, MONUMENT, RESTAURANT

Today’s Strands spangram

The completed NYT Strands puzzle for May 31, 2026.

NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Today’s Strands spangram is TOURISM. To find it, start with the T that’s two letters down on the far-left vertical row, and wind down and then across.

Tech

Lamine Yamal shares pictures teasing the new Beats headphones on the way – Engadget

The Spanish soccer player posted a bunch of images featuring the mystery product.

Lamine Yamal via Instagram

Beats has made a tradition of slipping unannounced products to famous athletes and letting a little mystery drive the hype train, and it’s just done it again with a pair of bubblegum pink (perhs with a dash of lilac?) headphones. Spanish soccer player Lamine Yamal shared a series of pictures and a video on Instagram showing the headphones hanging from his bag and dred around his neck.

It’s hard to tell for sure if they’re on-ear or over-ear, but they certainly pear to be a new design. We reached out to Beats and the company did not provide any information. The headphones sported by Yamal don’t have the flat headband we see on Beats’ current line, instead featuring a more rounded band design with a wider piece at the top that would sit snugly on the head. If you zoom in, they’re actually pretty different from anything we’ve seen from the company before. Consider us intrigued.

Tech

Today's Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for May 31, #1807

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’sWordle puzzleis very tricky. It’s an unusual word unless you’re a musician, and it repeats a letter. 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’sWordleanswer, 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 one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels, but one is repeated, so you will see that one twice.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with E.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with E.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a short musical composition designed to help a musician practice a skill.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is ETUDE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

The Wordle answer yesterday, May 30, No. 1,806, was SMILE.

Recent Wordle answers

May 26, No. 1,802: COUCH

May 27, No. 1,803: STUFF

May 28, No. 1,804: DIVOT

May 29, No. 1,805: CLANG

Tech

Today's NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for May 31, #1085

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 NYTConnections puzzleis a toughy. The purple category requires you to see four similar words buried in other words. 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.

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: Color of this category.

Green group hint: Think 8-ball.

Blue group hint: Their office is the sea.

Purple group hint: Add a letter.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Things that are yellow.

Green group: Billiards terms.

Blue group: Slang for a sailor.

Purple group: Kinds of wood plus “s.”

What are today’s Connections answers?

The completed NYT Connections puzzle for May 31, 2026.

NYT/Screenshot by CNET

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is things that are yellow. The four answers are butter, Pikachu, rubber duck and school bus.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is billiards terms. The four answers are break, cue, pocket and rack.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is slang for a sailor. The four answers are jack, salt, sea dog and tar.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of wood plus “s.” The four answers are sash (ash), soak (oak), spine (pine) and steak (teak).

Tech

MSIs next-gen monitor can switch between three resolutions and refresh rates – Engadget

Go from 4K resolution for Crimson Desert to 680Hz for Counter-Strike 2.

ginchang/

Officially named the MPG OLED 322URDX36, the monitor lets gamers go from maximum resolution for AAA titles that are grhically demanding to an ultra-fast refresh rate for more competitive games where split-second decisions matter. Along with MSI’s Triple Mode feature, the upcoming monitor also has itsPenta Tandem technology that the company advertises as a five-layer stack of panels designed to reduce color fringing and make text more legible. MSI also equipped the Triple Mode monitor with a DarkArmor Film that’s supposed to boost black levels by 40 percent and increase scratch resistance.

Besides all of MSI’s included proprietary technologies, the upcoming monitor can hit a peak brightness of 1,500 nits and will have a DisplayPort 2.1a and a USB-C port. MSI didn’t reveal any pricing or release details, but said theMPG OLED 322URDX36 will be on display at its booth during Computex 2026, which kicks off on June 2.

Tech

Oscar-winning Star Wars editor Marcia Lucas has died – Engadget

Marcia Lucas, who edited ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Return of the Jedi,’ has died at 80.

Star Wars

“Her work was known for its emotional intelligence, rhythm, and humanity — a rare ability to find the truth of a scene and bring heart, momentum, and clarity to the screen,” her family said in a statement.