Our Exclusive Promo Code Saves You 20% on HigherDose Wellness Tech - CNET

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Cybersecurity researchers from Infoblox’s Threat Intelligence Group have found a new remote access trojan (RAT) lurking in corporate networks around the world and claim it’s been operating in secret for roughly a year. 

The researchers named the RAT Pupy, and were able to trace its toolkit back to Russia, and now believe a state-sponsored attacker is behind the campaign.

In a press release, Infoblox’s researchers said they found a critical security threat communicating with a malware toolkit dubbed “Decoy Dog”. 

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Russian IP

This toolkit communicates with a Russian IP and targets organizations around the world - the US, Europe, South America, and Asia. Companies being targeted with this new RAT include those in technology, healthcare, energy, financial and other sectors.

The RAT is “not your generic consumer device threat”, mostly because of how difficult it was to detect any activity on the compromised endpoints. 

“This C2 communication was very hard to find, due to a small amount of data queries in a large pool of DNS data,” the researchers claim. “This RAT uses DNS as a C2 channel through which the malicious actor has control of the internal devices.”

Read more

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> Many data breaches are being caused by misconfigured clouds

> Check out the best endpoint protection right now 

Pupy is an open-source project, the researchers further claim, saying that it’s been “consistently associated” with nation-state actors. 

The identity of the attackers, as well as the nature of the compromise, is unknown at the time, Infoblox said, and added that it’s currently working with other cybersecurity vendors to uncover these details, as well.

“Organisations with protective DNS are able to block these domains immediately, mitigating their risk while they continue to investigate further,” the report concludes. Here’s a list of C2 domains that should be blocked, to mitigate potential risks

• claudfront[.]net
• allowlisted[.]net
• atlas-upd[.]com
• ads-tm-glb[.]click
• cbox4[.]ignorelist[.]com
• hsdps[.]cc

• Here are the best firewalls around to keep you safe

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NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2023: How to Watch the First Round Games Tonight - CNET

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Not every image can be a gem and even those we love can, upon closer examination, be disfigured by blemishes or, worse yet, unsightly grain. Removing it isn't easy, but Adobe now has an AI-based denoise solution for this common image problem.

Adobe has been on a tear lately rolling out updates to its various platforms from collaboration tools on Frame.io to improved image generation on Firefly. With this latest round, Adobe Lightroom is getting a smorgasbord of new features including this powerful, new AI-based one.

The AI-powered Denoise tool can, according to Adobe, eliminate grainy noise in photographs taken by cameras with high ISO settings, which are often used to capture images in low light.

Clean-up can be done either automatically or you can manually adjust the removal via an in-app slider. Do note Denoise only works with two types of files. According to a web page on Adobe’s Help Center, the tool currently applies to “raw [mosaic] files from cameras with Bayer sensors (Canon, Nikon, Sony, and others) and Fujifilm X-Trans sensors.” Denoise also “isn’t supported when applied [to photos] with Super Resolution” enabled.

The other major addition consists of two new categories in the Masking tool that let users edit both facial hair and clothes. Looking at the recently updated Help Center page, it appears the new masks will have some preset options to tell Lightroom what it should focus on. For example, you can enhance a person’s skin to presumably remove blemishes or clean up imperfections on their clothing. 

Further enhancements

Besides the AI-powered features, Adobe is improving Lightroom’s video editing capabilities. There will now be a Trim icon in the lower right-hand corner of a video's timeline for making quick edits. New Extract or Export options will be added to the Lighthouse toolbox if you need to do small edits to a video. Also, the company is now offering a B&W (black and white) mode if you want to add a cinematic, film noir look.

The last major set of changes involves the new set of Adaptive: Portrait presets. Just to highlight a couple, you have Polished Portrait to “refine facial features to achieve [a] desired look” and Darken Beard to remove those streaks of wisdom (i.e. grey hairs) from a beard.

For the rest of the update, Adobe is focused on growing the list of devices Lightroom supports, now including the Google Pixel 6a smartphone and Sony ZV-E1 camera. A full list can be found on the company’s Help Center website. There are a few tweaks too like improving the performance of select tools for Lightroom on desktop. The Android app is seeing similar performance upgrades alongside support for Filipino and Malay languages.

Everything you see here will be available on the desktop version of Lightroom. Neither the iOS nor Android apps will get Denoise. However, the former will have the video editing tools mentioned earlier. The update is slated to launch later this month with no exact date given. We asked Adobe if it could tell us an exact date and if it has plans to expand the rest of the update to mobile. This story will be updated at a later time.

If you’re looking for a good camera to use with the Lightroom update, be sure to check out TechRadar’s recently updated list of the best camera for 2023. We have top picks for every budget. 

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EarthLink Internet Review: Trading Higher Costs for Fewer Hassles - CNET

You're likely to pay a bit more with EarthLink, but the customer-friendly service may be worth the added cost.

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It recently came to light that the next major release of iOS might include the ability to sideload apps, something that Android users have been able to do for a while, but a practice that has formally been met with a lot of resistance from Apple in the past. So what is app sideloading and is it a good or bad thing for iOS users?

We recently reported on news that iOS 17 may grant users the ability to finally sideload apps. This has the potential to open up the best iPhones to a far greater selection of apps, from more sources than has ever been possible, but there are associated risks that come with downloading and installing apps on your iPhone (or iPad) that haven't been vetted by Apple.

We dive into the what and why app sideloading could appear in the next release of iOS.

App sideloading on iOS: What is it?

In the context of smartphones, sideloading is the act of installing a compatible application (or app) for the platform your device runs (by 'platform' that means Android, or – in this case – iOS), but one that isn't necessarily available, approved or at least monitored and maintained by your device's platform's official app store.

Take a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S23 as an example: it comes with two app stores natively: the Google Play Store (found on practically every Android smartphone and tablet) and Samsung's own Galaxy Store (found on practically every Samsung Galaxy smartphone and tablet). In both cases, apps downloaded from either source should install without issue and, aside for asking for certain permissions from the user during setup, these apps should run faultlessly and update automatically.

You might want to sideload an app if you're looking to run an older version of an available app that's no longer accessible on your device's native app store – perhaps because it doesn't suffer from a poorly optimized update or offers a layout or features that differ from the latest release.

Sideloading also lets you more readily install apps not available in your app store's geographical region; either apps that are written in another language or aren't intended for your market (Facebook Lite wasn't available in Europe but was in India, for example).

On iOS, we're yet to know just what sideloading an app will look like, but the closest experience currently available to iPhone users is adding when installing development builds of apps with the help of Apple's official TestFlight app.

For current examples on Android, users can either download an alternative app store to whatever comes pre-installed on their device, with offerings like the Huawei AppGallery and the Amazon Appstore up for grabs. Apps with the .apk or .apkx file extensions can also be downloaded directly from websites that host them. Just check the validity and authenticity of what you're downloading before you try and install them.

App sideloading on iOS: Why now?

In the past, Apple has been very vocal about its resistance to allowing sideloading on iOS. In mid October 2021, the company published a 30-page paper with the subheading 'a threat analysis of sideloading.' Later – in April last year – CEO Tim Cook took to the podium at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit, to speak about the harm allowing sideloading on iOS could cause; including the risks it would expose users to.

In both instances, Apple's protestations were in response to what has now become the Digital Markets Act (the DMA), enforced by the European Commission and set to go into effect in 2024.

In spite of Apple's disdain over the ruling, it would seem that the company is already in the process of making changes to iOS in order to allow app sideloading (among other DMA-compliance adjustments), in much the same way that rumors point to this year's iPhone 15 series sporting USB-C in place of Apple's proprietary Lightning connector – another change that looks to be a direct result of EU intervention.

App sideloading on iOS: What are the upsides?

If you follow the EU's reasoning as to why 'Big Tech' companies – including Apple – are being subjected to the DMA, according to Andreas Schwab of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, "consumers will get the choice to use the core services of Big Tech companies such as browsers, search engines or messaging, and all that without losing control over their data. Above all, the law avoids any form of overregulation for small businesses. App developers will get completely new opportunities, small businesses will get more access to business-relevant data and the online advertising market will become fairer."

Fairness and better opportunities for smaller business and app developers sounds good to us but in terms of the end-user (i.e. you) there are more tangible benefits to consider.

• More choice: Those who've been put off from developing their own apps outright will no longer have to factor in Apple's App Store or developer costs, meaning more third-party apps will likely spring up to choose from.
• Cheaper apps: Apple takes a 30% cut, not just off the price of paid apps, but any in-app transactions too. It's part of the reason why Fornite got banned from the App Store (Epic didn't want to up its pricing or lose money via iOS/iPad OS) and why you can't renew your Disney Plus subscription in-app on your iPhone. For apps that you sideload from other sources that either cost money or facilitate in-app transactions, they won't have to account for Apple's 30% cut in their pricing.
• Greater personalization: Many iOS apps come with widget, more apps from more sources also means there's potential for more widgets to better personalize your home screen with the information your want to keep at hand.
• Reinstalling previously incompatible or banned apps: Speaking of Fortnite, sideloading may allow users the ability to get apps that were once only available through the App Store back on their device, provided developers make their apps available to sideload.

App sideloading on iOS: What are the downsides?

Of course, while it's easy to see the benefits of opening up iOS to new app sources, the risks and pitfalls become just as visible. Some of the risks below are expressed by direct quotes from Apple's 2021 report, mentioned earlier.

• Greater vulnerability: App Store approval has been famously stringent in the past and sometimes led to some noteworthy apps finding themselves temporarily (or permanently) banned for not sticking to the store's frequently-updated guidelines. As frustrating as this sounds, however, these guidelines exist, in-part, to prevent spurious apps from making their way onto the App Store; including those that could try to steal your data or expose a vulnerability.
• Reduced transparency: "Users would have less information about apps up front, and less control over apps after they download them onto their devices." Each entry in the App Store features an App Privacy section that developers have to fill in, detailing exactly what kinds of data their apps ask of users. Sideloaded apps wouldn't be subject to the same levels of transparency.
• Forced sideloading: "Users also may have no choice other than sideloading an app that they need to connect with family and friends because the app is not made available on the App Store. For example, if sideloading were permitted, some companies may choose to distribute their apps solely outside of the App Store."

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So with the launch of the Nvidia RTX 4070, all eyes have really been on the anticipated release of the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, but if a recent report pans out, don't get your hopes up. This launch could suck.

At least that's the word from Red Gaming Tech, whose sources put the price tag for the RTX 4060 Ti at $450, or $50 more than the RTX 3060 Ti it's replacing. That's a nearly 13% increase gen-over-gen, and while it doesn't sound like that big of a price increase, it really is, and the RTX 3060 Ti was already more expensive than it needed to be when it launched.

The performance target for the RTX 4060 Ti appears to be on par with the RTX 3070, though toss in DLSS 3 and Frame Generation, and you can expect to get better performance while gaming than you would with the RTX 3070, when those features are enabled with your games. That isn't always the case, obviously.

And, given prices everywhere have gone up, it shouldn't be any surprise that Nvidia's will too. There's just one problem: nobody has any money, and further putting GPUs out of reach of gamers who missed out on an entire GPU generation due to cryptominers and scalper bots is a great way to turn loyal customers very bitter.

Now, to be clear, this is one rumor, and so everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt until we actually hear something more official from Nvidia. And, plenty of "leaks" about pricing for Nvidia's Lovelace series have gotten it wrong, so we can't throw up our hands in exasperation totally. Still, if Nvidia keeps up this trend and starts charging more for these lower-tier cards, they'll be in for a rude awakening from gamers. 

Nvidia will burn a lot of its fans if it overprices its budget cards

There hasn't been a single Lovelace card that's sold for its predecessor's price, and as our buddies over at PC Gamer point out, this is increasingly unjustifiable the lower down the GPU stack you go.

The Nvidia RTX 4090 ran laps around the RTX 3090 Ti and was putting up just stupid numbers against the rest of the Ampere generation. Considering the RTX 3090 had an MSRP of $1,499 and the RTX 4090 bumped that up by $100, this was much more of an acceptable tradeoff. A roughly 7% price bump for a card putting out 50-60% better performance at 4K? That seemed pretty reasonable, at least relative to the pricing of the 3090 and 3090 Ti.

Then came the RTX 4080, which was priced to match the RTX 3080 Ti and completely yeeted itself right out of the conversation on that basis. The RTX 4070 Ti was better, but not by much, and the RTX 4070 really is about the threshold of what a lot of gamers are willing to tolerate at this point. 

And much like the RTX 4070 offered RTX 3080 performance (and even RTX 3080 Ti performance) at $599 (a 20% increase in price over the RTX 3070), at this point we honestly should expect to see Nvidia price the RTX 4060 Ti higher as well to go along with what is expected to be similarly improved performance. 

But what does any of this even matter if gamers can't afford to buy the cards you're trying to sell them? Given that finding stock of the RTX 4070 in the US and UK is still fairly easy, it doesn't seem like a lot of gamers are jumping at the chance to buy the 4070 at its MSRP. Many of them probably can't afford to drop $600 on a GPU, and they're probably waiting for the RTX 4060 Ti to finally make the jump. 

So Nvidia might really put itself in a bind if it hits these gamers with a price increase that puts the successor to our pick for the best graphics card of the last generation out of reach when for many this is the card that most of them have been waiting for.

It is literally the kind of thing that could turn long-time Team Green partisans into AMD devotees, especially as AMD still has yet to even announce its Radeon RX 7800 XT, much less its more budget-friendly cards further down the stack. And if those cards are anywhere near as good as what we saw with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, Nvidia might royally fumble the bag on what is probably its most important graphics card release of the year. 

Honestly, Nvidia, for just this one card if nothing else, keep the MSRP where it was the last time around. The extra $50 a card just isn't worth it.

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As if Apple wasn’t omnipresent enough in our lives, the tech giant is now offering Apple Card users the opportunity to open a savings account on their iPhones.

The feature was originally announced back in October 2022 as a way for Apple Card owners to save their Daily Cash rewards and grow them “in a high-yield Savings account from Goldman Sachs.” Some speculated the APY (annual percentage yield) would be 3.75 percent, but as it turns out, it’s actually 4.15 percent which the company claims is currently “more than 10 times the national average”. Be aware the APY isn't set in stone as it could jump up or dip at any time in the future. Besides the high yield, it functions similarly to any old savings account you get at a typical bank with the added benefit of having “no fees, no minimum deposits, [plus] no minimum balance requirements”.

Additionally, all Daily Cash earnings that you collect whenever you purchase something with your Apple Card will automatically be sent over to the new savings account. The neat part is there's no limit to Daily Cash although the cash rebates differ from merchant to merchant. For example, if you buy a new Macbook from Apple's online store, you get three percent of that particular purchase back.

Healthy finance

Vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet Jennifer Bailey stated in a release that the purpose of this recent move is to give people the tools to “lead healthier financial lives” similar to Apple Pay Later which launched in late March. To further help, the Wallet app will have a dashboard for users to track account activities. Users can also connect a personal bank account if they want to deposit money from a personal account to their newfound Apple Savings. Of course, it’s possible to do the opposite by withdrawing funds to said personal account or from your Apple Cash card “with no fees.”

Apple states the new accounts will be protected by the same level of robust security users expect from the company. Since these accounts are being managed by Goldman Sachs, balances are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). So if by some freak occurrence, Apple’s financial endeavors implode, your money is covered by the FDIC. 

Limitations

There are some limitations. First, only people living in the United States can create a Savings account since that is the only country where Apple Card is available. You must have an iPhone sporting iOS 16.4 or later. Accounts have a maximum balance of $250,000, according to a Deposit Account Agreement from Goldman Sachs. And in that same document, it states “[bank] transfers must be” between $1 to $10,000 with a weekly limit of $20,000. 

Instructions on how to create the account on the Apple Wallet app can be found on Apple’s Support website.

It wouldn’t surprise us if the idea of a savings account with no fees and high APY is making you consider buying an iPhone just to have one. If this is you, be sure to check out TechRadar’s recently updated list of the cheapest iPhone deals for April 2023. 

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It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints. And you might need them - because this popular online game takes the Wordle format and quadruples the difficulty. So if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for Quordle too. 

I'm a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who's been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #448 and bookmark this page so you can easily return. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers. 

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #2 - total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 7.

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #3 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 11.

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #6 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #448) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• A

• S

• N

• D

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #448) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #448, are…

• ASSAY
• SLANT
• NADIR
• DENIM

The first Quordle answers of the week are among the harder ones we've had recently. Or at least two of them - ASSAY and NADIR - are less common words than some of those that have turned up of late. SLANT and DENIM aren't so bad, admittedly, but overall I think these are harder than usual.

ASSAY is particularly tough, as it has not one but two repeated letters. NADIR doesn't have that problem, but it is a relatively obscure word. (I say 'relatively', because it's not as bad as BORAX or something - I mean I know what this word means). 

Coupled with that, there are only 11 distinct letters used across the four puzzles, meaning you might well have had to guess quite a few before you narrowed it down. Still, I got there eventually, with one guess remaining, so it's not a terrible start to the week. 

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

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Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #447, Sunday 16 April: SLATE, BENCH, QUASH, FOGGY
• Quordle #446, Saturday 15 April: HAZEL, BERET, FALSE, COVEN
• Quordle #445, Friday 14 April: BROWN, PLAZA, DRUNK, DODGE
• Quordle #444, Thursday 13 April: DELVE, PIXEL, MINOR, CLOAK
• Quordle #443, Wednesday 12 April: INCUR, DRUNK, COVEN, THERE
• Quordle #442, Tuesday 11 April: CHIME, DRAIN, WHOSE, BOXER
• Quordle #441, Monday 10 April: THUMB, CHESS, SYRUP, HOTEL
• Quordle #440, Sunday 9 April: VERGE, CAMEL, PUTTY, GRASS
• Quordle #439, Saturday 8 April: CRUEL, LIVID, SPIED, BLEND
• Quordle #438, Friday 7 April: RIVET, VISOR, CEASE, AFOOT
• Quordle #437, Thursday 6 April: COVEY, BREAK, AWASH, STALK
• Quordle #436, Wednesday 5 April: SKULL, POLAR, SPREE, THOSE
• Quordle #435, Tuesday 4 April: OUNCE, WHINE, FROCK, POSIT
• Quordle #434, Monday 3 April: TURBO, WHOLE, LIGHT, SPRIG
• Quordle #433, Sunday 2 April: WHOSE, SUPER, SHARK, FABLE
• Quordle #432, Saturday 1 April: GODLY, MOTOR, EPOXY, HEART
• Quordle #431, Friday 31 March: CHOIR, TUBAL, SCOUR, PARRY
• Quordle #430, Thursday 30 March: ALIBI, REACH, ACRID, QUARK
• Quordle #429, Wednesday 29 March: MOIST, BRAND, FAITH, ADMIN
• Quordle #428, Tuesday 28 March: SUGAR, FIBRE, DITTY, TRIAD

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It's played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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