Want to skip the struggle? We have the hints. You can grab them below for today’s game, or check out the rest of your daily digital fixes. Mini Crossword. Wordle. Connections: Sports Edition. Even Strands is there.
This morning’s puzzle had a blue group that felt… refreshing. Especially if you know your way around a cocktail shaker. Let’s get into it.
The Times has a bot. Not the creepy kind, just the analytics one. Like Wordle, you play first. Then the program judges you.
It gives you a number. It tells you if you’re good. If you’re logged into the Times Games, you can actually watch your stats. Puzzles completed. Win rate. Streak. You can nerding out over perfect scores until the dawn breaks. It’s addictive, mostly.
Want to play without peeking? Check these hints. We ranked them by difficulty, yellow to purple. Or whatever color feels easiest to your brain.
Hints for May 10
Here’s what we gave the AI. Well, we didn’t. The puzzle gave them. You get the benefit.
Yellow hint: Listening to tunes.
Green hint: It is the way.
Blue hint: Cheers!
Purple hint: Not summer or winter.
See? Not summer. Or winter. Just the middle bits.
Answers for Today’s Puzzle
If you already clicked “See Answers” (we won’t tell), here’s why those groups made sense. Or why they didn’t, at first.
Yellow group: Music player buttons.
Green group: Destined.
Blue group: Verbs in making a mojito (see: “Cheers”).
Purple group: What “spring” might refer to (see: “Not summer”).
The Breakdown
The yellow words.
Music controls. Simple. Almost too simple, but hey. Play. Repeat. Shuffle. Skip. Four things you press to pretend you aren’t at work.
The green words.
Synonyms for doomed or fixed. Bound. Certain. Fated. Sure. You couldn’t help it. The outcome was locked.
The blue words.
Cocktail action verbs. Specifically for mojitos, though these work elsewhere. Garnish. Muddle. Pour. Stir. Did you muddle the mint? Probably. If you skipped the muddling, it wasn’t much of a mojito, was it?
The purple words.
The “spring” trap. You know the one. Everyone jumps to the season first. But this puzzle wanted every other meaning of the word. Coil. Fountain. Leap. And yes, finally, Season.
Toughest Puzzles of All Time
Want context? We’ve been tracking the nightmares. The puzzles that break brains. Maybe studying these will save your streak next Tuesday. Or maybe it’ll just confuse you more.
#1: “Things that can run.” Candidate. Faucet. Mascara. Nose. A nose? Yes. Runny nose. Got you.
#2: “Power ___.” Nap. Plant. Ranger. Trip. You power-tripped, obviously. But a power Ranger? It’s a toy, mostly. Or a meme.
#3: “Streets on screen.” Elm. Fear. Jump. Sesame. Classic TV sets. And horror movies. Elm Street scares. Fear Street. Jump Street. Sesame Street. Innocence is dead.
#4: “One in a dozen.” Egg. Juror. Month. Rose. A rose in a dozen? Usually yes, unless it’s a single rose for a date. Jurors come by the dozen. So do months. And eggs, mostly.
#5: “Things you can set.” Mood. Record. Table. Volleyball. Setting a volleyball table. Or the mood for a romantic evening. Or breaking the speed record. Words do too much work sometimes.
