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 a fun one. The category offers some creative answers, and once you understand the theme, the unscrambling comes easily. 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: My hero!
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Marvel and DC.
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:
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:
SPEED, FLIGHT, HEALING, STRENGTH, INVISIBILITY
Today’s Strands spangram
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for July 6, 2025, #490.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
Today’s Strands spangram is SUPERPOWER. To find it, look for the S that’s four letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind up.
Quick tips for Strands
#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.
#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.
#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.
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 could be tough. That purple category almost sounds like one of the goofy TikTok parody Connections categories, like “18th century whaling ships spelled backwards and minus three letters.” That’s not the category, but it feels a little bit like it is. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times now 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 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: Get the kiln ready.
Green group hint: Tiny bit.
Blue group hint: Not nurses or lawyers.
Purple group hint: Hoo boy. Let’s say, a portion of these words sound like a body part.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Fired objects.
Green group: Particle.
Blue group: Drs.
Purple group: Ending with homophones of parts of the leg.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Sunday, July 6, 2025, #756.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is fired objects. The four answers are ceramics, china, pottery and ware.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is particle. The four answers are crumb, grain, morsel and shred.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Drs. The four answers are Dre, Evil, Pepper and Seuss.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ending with homophones of parts of the leg. The four answers are crypto, decaf, Disney and Prussian.
Crypto = toe
Decaf = calf
Disney = knee
Prussian = shin
Quick tips for Connections
#1: Say the clue words out loud, pausing before and after each. That helps you hear the words in the context of a phrase. The Connections editors love to group words together that are used in similar phrasing, like ____ Up.
#2: Don’t go for the obvious grouping. These editors are smart. Once, they offered SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE and PANTS in the same puzzle. None of those words were in the same category. If you like, hit the “shuffle” button to give yourself a different perspective on the words.
#3: Break down any compound words and look for similarities. “Rushmore” was once in a puzzle where the connection was that each word started with the name of a rock band.
YONGCHUAN – Fantasy action film Umro Ayyar: A New Beginning captured international attention at prestigious Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Film Festival in China.
Produced by VR Chili Production, the film is being hailed as a bold step forward in Pakistan’s cinematic storytelling and genre innovation. Inspired by legendary trickster-hero Umro Ayyar from classical Persian and Urdu literature, the film blends South Asian folklore with high-octane action, modern visual effects, and a compelling narrative that bridges tradition with contemporary cinematic style.
Umro Ayyar marks one of first times Pakistani film entered global fantasy action arena with a fully realized superhero grounded in local mythology. Its selection at the SCO Film Festival not only showcases Pakistan’s creative capabilities but also reflects the growing appetite for culturally rooted stories that resonate with a global audience.
Festival representatives called it more than just a film screening, as it is powerful cultural exchange. Umro Ayyar brings something fresh to the fantasy genre, a unique voice that reflects the heritage, values, and imagination of the region.
The film’s reception at festival sparked excitement among viewers and critics alike, with many praising its production quality, storytelling depth, and the ambition to create a homegrown cinematic universe.
An online booking system to improve community recycling centre services (CRCs) is being launched by Surrey County Council.
The council said the initiative, due to run between 11 August and 10 November, is for residents at the Camberley and Lyne (Chertsey) CRCs.
It added the scheme was being trialled to ease congestion at peak times and help the local authority manage the CRCs more effectively.
Natalie Bramhall, cabinet member for property, waste and infrastructure, said: “We’ve seen booking systems at CRCs introduced by councils in other areas of the country with great success and would like to trial a system of our own.
“We will continue to listen to residents and businesses to help shape the CRC service to make it as easy and effective as possible for Surrey residents.”
The council added that following the trial, the booking system would be evaluated and residents asked for feedback.
Slots will be available to book two weeks in advance, with the system going live on 28 July.
Residents can make up to 10 appointments per month with each slot lasting 15 minutes.
The council has confirmed that until 11 August residents can still visit both CRCs as usual, and no other CRCs will be impacted by the system.
NASA’s newest solar research mission is already producing some amazing outcomes. The PUNCH or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere mission, which was launched on March 12, 2025, is a set of four small satellites working together in low Earth orbit to study the sun’s outer atmosphere and solar wind. Within weeks of launch, it sent back its first set of images, including a colourful and unusual “rainbow” view of a faint glow caused by sunlight scattering off dust in space that was rare and rarely seen before.These early images are scientific and have quickly caught the attention of space enthusiasts due to their unexpected beauty. One image, taken on April 18 by the WFI-2 instrument, shows a soft gradient of red, green, and blue light against a starry sky. The image shows how the spacecraft measures different wavelengths of light and the direction that light has been polarised by particles in space.
A rainbow in space
This image isn’t a real rainbow, but a false-colour representation of polarised light from space dust. The colours including red, green, and blue, reflect different polarisation angles that help scientists understand how light scatters off interplanetary particles.As said by NASA in a SwRI press release, “The image is colorised to show the polarization (or angle) of the zodiacal light, a faint glow from dust orbiting the sun.” These early images help scientists confirm that the instruments are working correctly and are ready for more detailed solar observations.
Seeing the moon in a new light
Another exceptional moment happened on April 27, when one of PUNCH’s cameras, the Narrow Field Imager (NFI), spotted the new moon passing near the sun. To see this clearly, the NFI used a special cover called an occluder to block out the sun’s bright light. In the image, the moon looks full even though it was technically a new moon. That’s because of something called “Earthshine”, or sunlight bouncing off Earth and lighting up the moon’s dark side. This helped scientists make sure the moon won’t get in the way of PUNCH’s future views of the sun’s outer layers.
On April 16, two of the other PUNCH satellites, WFI-1 and WFI, also captured the soft glow of zodiacal light. Through their wide-angle view, they picked up some famous sights in the night sky, like the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters, the Andromeda galaxy, and the Cassiopeia constellation. These early images are helping scientists fine-tune the instruments, but they also show just how sensitive PUNCH is as it can spot even the faintest details way out in space.
SPHEREx joins the ride
Launched alongside PUNCH aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, SPHEREx is another NASA mission with big goals. Unlike the James Webb Space Telescope, which zooms into distant objects, SPHEREx will scan the whole sky in 102 infrared colours. As Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a SPHEREx briefing, “We are literally mapping the entire celestial sky in 102 infrared colors for the first time in humanity’s history.”Photo: NASA/ SwRI
SAVE $400: The Garmin Fenix 7 fitness tracker is on sale at Amazon for $499.99, down from the list price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount and a new record-low price at Amazon.
We’re on the heels of an exciting Prime Day. This year we get four full days of shopping to find the best Apple deals, outdoor gear upgrades, and finally replacing those uncomfortable earbuds. If you have summer adventures planned or you’re looking to keep better tabs on your fitness metrics, there’s an especially great deal that’s already live on a fitness tracker.
As of July 6, the Garmin Fenix 7 fitness tracker is just $499.99 at Amazon, marked down from the list price of $899.99. That’s a major 44% discount that takes $400 off the smartwatch. It’s also a new record-low price at Amazon by a long shot.
Mashable Trend Report
Summer is the perfect time to get into a new fitness routine. With better weather and longer daylight hours, it can be a great way to set a new schedule that involves a focus on health. Whether you’re taking longer walks around the neighborhood or heading into the mountains to set a new trail record, the Garmin Fenix 7 is packed with useful features.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Watch deals are heating up ahead of Prime Day — get the lowest-ever price on the Series 10
For starters, who couldn’t use a built-in flashlight on their wrist? On the trail, this is incredibly useful for digging into your backpack to find that (probably melted) chocolate bar. At home, it’s a great way to avoid tripping on the dog during the midnight bathroom trip. The strobe function is gonna come in handy during winter runs at 5 p.m. when it’s completely dark out. But of course, the Garmin is packed with fitness tracking features, too.
On your wrist, you’ll have access to heart rate date, pulse Ox levels, and sleep metrics. Each morning, the Garmin will give you a daily report that discusses training readiness for the day. Plus, the the Garmin Fenix 7 is capable of solar recharging. But you shouldn’t need that too often since the watch can get up to 22 days of battery on a single charge when in smartwatch mode.
Since it’s down to a super low price at Amazon, it’s probably wise to jump on this Garmin Fenix 7 deal before Prime Day takes hold. There’s no telling when Amazon will decide to bump up the price while lowering others during the longest Prime Day sale ever.
The best early Prime Day deals to shop this weekend
Death toll from Texas flooding rises to nearly 70, officials say
The death toll due from the Texas floods has risen to nearly 70 overall on Sunday, with 59 people dead in Kerr County, officials said. The additional numbers are from outlying areas.
The number of missing girls from Camp Mystic has gone down to 11, from an original 27 missing.
Key events
The National Weather Service has extended its flood watch through 7 p.m. central time for central Texas.
The Service warns that additional rainfall of two-to-four inches are possible, with “isolated pockets of 10 inches” also possible. “It is very difficult to pinpoint where exactly the isolated heavy amounts will occur in this pattern,” the National Weather Service posted on X.
Kerr County officials said that, as of 9 a.m. central time on Sunday, 38 adults and 21 children have died in the county due to the deadly flooding. Eighteen adults and four children have not been identified.
The remaining dead are from outlying areas. There are a total of nearly 70 dead.
There are 11 Camp Mystic campers and one counselor still missing, officials said.
Death toll from Texas flooding rises to nearly 70, officials say
The death toll due from the Texas floods has risen to nearly 70 overall on Sunday, with 59 people dead in Kerr County, officials said. The additional numbers are from outlying areas.
The number of missing girls from Camp Mystic has gone down to 11, from an original 27 missing.
A MAGA congressional candidate in Georgia shared strange posts on social media, claiming that the weather is being manipulated, as search and rescue efforts continue in Texas after deadly flooding.
Kandiss Taylor, who is running for Congress in Georgia for the 2026 elections, posted on X: “Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake.”
In another post, Taylor doubled-down, by sharing conspiracy theories about natural disasters: “This isn’t just ‘climate change.’ It’s cloud seeding, geoengineering, & manipulation. If fake weather causes real tragedy, that’s murder.”
X users responded to Taylor, slamming her for her tweets.
She later said that her posts were about legislation proposed by right-wing MAGA and conspiracy-theorist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene that would prohibit “the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather.”
“I wasn’t talking about Texas with this post,” Taylor said. “Liberal left winged media twisted what I said to make it about Texas.”
The longtime owner and director of Camp Mystic, a Christian girls camp, died while trying to save campers, a local publication reports.
Dick Eastland was “kind and welcoming” and is described as a father figure to campers.
Camp Mystic was established in 1926 along the Guadalupe River in central Texas nearly a century ago “to provide young girls with a wholesome Christian atmosphere,” Reuters reports.
Dick and his wife Tweety Eastland, are the third generation of the family that bought the camp in 1939, the camp website says. There are still 27 girls missing from Camp Mystic.
“[Eastland] was family to so many campers,” wrote Paige Sumner in the Kerrville Daily Times. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers.”
People in Texas describe the terrifying moments after deadly flooding swept through the central part of the state. The death toll has risen to 59 people.
One man describes him and his wife being swept by the water and holding onto a tree until rescuers arrived to help. “It was scary, it was really scary,” he said.
The Guardian’s video team produced this piece on people caught up in the floods.
People recounted their ordeal after deadly flooding swept through central Texas on Friday morning.
Death toll from Texas flooding rises to 59, lieutenant governor says
The death toll from the flooding in Texas has risen to 59, according to the county’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (up from the previous total of 51). More details soon…
Here is a graphic showing where Camp Mystic is located within the state of Texas:
A graphic showing where Camp Mystic is located within Texas.A graphic showing where Camp Mystic is located within Texas.
Officials said this morning the tally of children missing from the Christian youth camp for girls stood at 27.
Officials have said waters in some parts of Texas are starting to recede to where they were before the storm.
The Guadalupe River near Kerrville – which surged by more than 20 feet within 90 minutes during the downpour — is, according to CNN, back down to just a foot or two higher than its level before the flood.
The hills along the Guadalupe River in central Texas are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families came to swim and enjoy the outdoors, Associated Press reports. The area is especially popular around the July Fourth holiday, making it more difficult to know how many are missing.
“We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time,” Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice said earlier.
Search crews were facing harsh conditions while “looking in every possible location,” he said.
Jonathan Porter, the chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, a private weather forecasting company that uses National Weather Service data, said it appeared evacuations and other proactive measures could have been undertaken to reduce the risk of fatalities.
In a statement, he said:
People, businesses, and governments should take action based on flash flood warnings that are issued, regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecast.
As we mentioned in a previous post, local officials in Texas have said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.
“We know we get rains. We know the river rises,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official. “But nobody saw this coming.”
As much as 10 inches of intense rainfall fell within a few hours overnight in central Kerr County on Friday, causing the Guadalupe River’s banks to burst at about 4am local time.
Pope Leo has sent condolences to the families of devastating floods in Texas which killed at least 51 people and left nearly 30 others missing, many of them children.
Following Angelus prayers, the pontiff said:
I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in a summer camp in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas. We pray for them.
Aftermath of Texas floods – in pictures
Here are some of the latest images coming out from Texas after devastating floods forced authorities to launch one of the largest search-and-rescue efforts in the state’s recent history:
Houses and cars are partially submerged in flood waters in an aerial view near Kerrville, Texas. Photograph: US Coast Guard/ReutersA drone view shows the swollen San Gabriel river, in Georgetown, Texas, amid the deluge. Photograph: Adam Grumbo/Reuters Kyle Hammock stands in front of his damaged home on the bank of Guadalupe River after clearing debris from inside his home. Photograph: Jim Vondruska/Getty ImagesA volunteer rescue searcher speaks on the phone after deadly flooding in Kerr County. Photograph: Sergio Flores/ReutersA child’s baseball helmet lies among flood debris along TX-39 near Hunt, Texas. Photograph: Eric Vryn/Getty Images
What has the federal response to the Texas floods been?
US president Donald Trump addressed the deadly floods on Saturday. On his Truth Social platform, he said his administration was working with state and local officials on the ground in Texas to respond “to the tragic flooding” that occurred a day before.
“Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly,” Trump wrote.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday, Noem pledged that the Trump administration would use all available resources to help the state in its rescue efforts, including by bringing in more fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to aid with operations.
She said the government would make it a priority to upgrade National Weather Service technology used to deliver warnings.
Noem said:
We know that everyone wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technology that’s been neglected for far too long to make sure families have as much advance notice as possible.
Kristi Noem speaks with Texas Gov Greg Abbott about ongoing search and rescue efforts at a press conference in Kerrville, Texas. Photograph: Rodolfo Gonzalez/AP
For context: Some state and local officials have said the NWS failed to provide accurate forecasts ahead of Friday’s destructive flooding.
“The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill Country,” Texas emergency management chief W. Nim Kidd told journalists on Friday. “The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”
The father of Blair, 13, and BrookeHarber, 11, confirmed to CNN yesterday that his daughters had died in the Texas flooding after having gone missing in Kerr County.
RJ Harber told CNN that Blair “was a gifted student and had a generous kind heart” and that Brooke “was like a light in any room, people gravitated to her and she made them laugh and enjoy the moment”.
Neither Blair or Brooke were at Camp Mystic when they went missing.
Questions have arose as to why the severity of the flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many officials by surprise.
Here is an extract from a story by my colleagues Oliver Milman, José OlivaresandRobert Mackey who have looked into the preparations for the flood and examined how federal policy may have impacted local projection capabilities:
Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.
One National Weather Service (NWS) forecast this week had called for only 3-6in (76-152mm) of rain, said Kidd, of the Texas division of emergency management.
“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
Saturday’s deaths renewed questions about whether it was wise for the Trump administration to implement deep budget and job cuts at the NWS – among other federal government agencies – since his second presidency began in January.
Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.
Early Friday morning, shortly after the deluge hit, over 100 game wardens and an aviation group tried to access the camp, but they weren’t able to enter to start rescuing children until after midday, CNN reports.
One of the girls attending the camp, Renee Smajstrla, who was nine years old, was confirmed to be among the dead by her uncle.
“Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly,” Shawn Salta wrote on Facebook. “We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life.”
A Sheriff’s deputy pauses while combing through the banks of the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP
Camp Mystic said in an email to parents of the campers that if they had not been contacted directly, their child had been accounted for.
Another girls’ camp in the area, Heart O’ the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present as it was between sessions.
Search for missing continues with at least 51 people killed, including 15 children
We are restarting our live coverage of the devastating Texas floods.
Hundreds of rescuers are desperately searching for people missing in central Texas, after torrential rains caused devastating flooding that killed at least 51 people, including 15 children.
The total number of missing people is not yet clear, but officials say that 27 of them are girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian youth camp located along the River Guadalupe in Kerr County, the area worst affected by the flood.
The river rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours overnight into the July 4 holiday.
Drone footage shows extent of deadly Texas flooding – video
The flooding in Kerr County killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, and at least eight people died in nearby counties, including Travis County and Tom Green County.
Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads.
Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued, with more than 1,700 people involved in the search-and-rescue operation.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.
In a post on X, he wrote that Camp Mystic was“horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster” and vowed that rescuers would find “every girl who was in those cabins”.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates on the floods throughout the day.
Furniture lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding in Kerr County. Photograph: Sergio Flores/Reuters
The Wallabies have claimed victory in their first Test for 2025 after a Harry Wilson try in the 79th minute sealed a 21-18 win over Fiji at McDonald Jones Stadium.
In front of a record rugby crowd of 28,132 in Newcastle, the Wallabies raced to a 14-0 lead but were forced to dig deep after a second half barrage from the Flying Fijians.
The tourists swept to the lead with 25 minutes remaining after scoring 18 unanswered points before Wilson’s late, spinning move close to the line steered the Wallabies home.
The Wallabies were hungry for early points and nearly found their way through Harry Potter, who just couldn’t collect the cross-field kick.
It reflected a first half dominated by the hosts but couldn’t capitalise on their opportunities, with several tries disallowed.
Dave Porecki got Australia on the board via the rolling maul after Langi Gleeson was held up. Eight minutes later, Potter was denied again after the final pass from Tom Wright was judged to have travelled forward. The Wallabies were controlling territory but had another try disallowed for a crooked lineout throw.
The pressure eventually delivered points when slick hands from centres Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii created the space for Fraser McReight to dive over.
With the hosts in control, an errant kick right at half time gave Fiji a chance to counter as Salesi Rayasi went over to reduce the lead to 14-5 at the break.
The second half started as the first began with another Wallabies try denied – this time to Max Jorgensen after a forward pass from Wright to Harry Potter, who chipped ahead for his fellow winger.
This provided the window for Fiji to hit back, starting with a Caleb Muntz penalty to reduce the margin to under a converted try.
The door was then opened for winger Jiuta Wainiqolo to produce some magic to put the visitors in front. The Toulon winger collected the ball inside his 22 and broke through multiple defenders before throwing a magic offload for Lekima Tagitagivalu to dive over in the corner.
With all the momentum, Fiji looked to have scored again through Sireli Maqala, however, the hosts were saved after Potter’s foot was in touch before the turnover.
It went from bad to worse for the hosts after a nasty whiplash incident left flyhalf Noah Lolesio injured in the build-up.
Another Fiji penalty extended the margin to four points as the hosts held tough in defence.
The Fijians threw everything trying to seal the win as the Wallabies kept forcing turnovers.
It gave them a last chance to find a winner as several penalties put them on the five-metre line.
Up stepped the captain, spinning his way over the line and finding the chalk with 90 seconds to go for the winner,
