
In mid-September, Fiji's government declared a national emergency because of a startling rise in HIV infections. The country's crystal meth epidemic is a strong contributing factor.
(Image credit: Ian Cheibub for NPR)

In mid-September, Fiji's government declared a national emergency because of a startling rise in HIV infections. The country's crystal meth epidemic is a strong contributing factor.
(Image credit: Ian Cheibub for NPR)

Pope Leo XIV has warned that a "paradise of machines" could undermine humanity. He raises concerns about artificial intelligence, nuclear arms, and human rights during his visit to France.
(Image credit: Teresa Suarez)
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, September 25 (game #936).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… A breath of fresh air
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
• Spangram has 10 letters
• First side: top, 1st column
• Last side: bottom, 6th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

The answers to today's Strands, game #937, are…
I began, as I’m sure most players did, by finding the words linked to the two letter Zs.
However, while BREEZE was a breeze, ZEPHYR was not something I would have got without the fact that its letters connected straight down.
ZEPHYR is, like all of today’s game words, a way of describing a GENTLEWIND — but prior to today its only appearance in my life was in The Zephyr Song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which seemed to imply it was some kind of magical vehicle we could fly away on.
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

A tech-heavy guest list, the fashion choices of those on it, who sat where and what was on the menu marked the softer — often and glitzier — details of diplomacy as Donald Trump threw a Thursday night state dinner honoring China's leader Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: Alex Brandon)
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, September 24 (game #935).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… 1x1, etc…
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
• Spangram has 12 letters
• First side: left, 4th row
• Last side: left, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

The answers to today's Strands, game #936, are…
Is it just me or is this game missing a few words?
We have FOUR, which is the SQUARENUMBER of two, and NINE (the square of three), but then we miss sixteen (the square of four) before jumping back in again with TWENTYFIVE (the square of five) and THIRTYSIX (the square of six). However, we then skip seven and eight, before resuming with EIGHTYONE, the square of nine.
Maybe I'm overthinking this…
Anyway, this quibble aside, the hardest aspect of this game was trying to find the non-game words for this column. There really were barely any, so I hope you didn’t need hints.
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, September 23 (game #934).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Just outside the door
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
• Spangram has 8 letters
• First side: left, 5th row
• Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

The answers to today's Strands, game #935, are…
The first word I saw on the board was “tree”, but fortunately I wasn’t switched on enough to see the adjoining word “house” and put them together.
I say 'fortunately', because in the absence of spotting a game word I did see the spangram and gave a little whoop of joy as the letters turned yellow.
This was also quite a melancholy game for me, as it reminded me of all the clutter that used to fill up my BACKYARD that is no longer there — a sign that my kids have grown up and no longer need a SANDBOX or SWINGS or the safety nightmare that is a TRAMPOLINE.
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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