Gamers’ honeymoon period with Xbox Game Pass might soon be over. Microsoft’s gaming subscription bundle previously gave gamers access to hundreds of titles, including day-one releases for as low as $10, but price hikes are here, along with some serious new restrictions. The news was officially confirmed by Microsoft today after initially being reported by Windows Central, and puts Microsoft on a more even playing field with competing options like PlayStation Plus.

Let’s just rip that bandage off right away with the bad news:

• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is going from $16.99 a month to $19.99 a month, and will continue to get day-one releases, EA Play Membership, and cloud gaming.

• Xbox Game Pass Standard is a new tier that will cost $14.99. It won’t have day-one releases or cloud gaming, but will have access to the full Game Pass back catalog.

• Xbox Game Pass Core’s monthly price will remain $9.99, but the discount for buying a full year upfront will now be $74.99 instead of $59.99. Game Pass Core enables access to a small selection of free games, but is mostly a rebrand of Xbox Live Gold.

• PC Game Pass, which does not work on consoles, is jumping from $9.99 a month to $11.99 a month. Like Game Pass Ultimate, it has access to day one releases, but not cloud gaming.

• Xbox Game Pass for Console, which does not work on PC, is going away for new subscribers, but existing subscribers can continue accessing it. It remains $10.99 a month, but if you turn off automatic payments and let your subscription lapse, you’ll need to sign up for a different plan. Existing codes for Game Pass for Console will work, but starting from September 18, there will be a 13-month extension limit for much time you can stack on your plan at once. Game Pass for Console includes day-one releases, but is the only Game Pass plan to exclude multiplayer.

Essentially, prices are going up, one plan is being phased out, and a new middle-of-the-road plan is being introduced around where Game Pass Ultimate’s former price point was. The new pricing goes into effect today for new subscribers, but current subscribers have until September 12 before they’ll see price increases. The whole ecosystem is also a bit more confusing to navigate, and accidentally buying the wrong plan could keep you from playing your favorite participating day-one games on release. I hope Activision Blizzard is ready to get a lot of confused calls when Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches in October.

The new Xbox Game Pass versus the competition

Game Pass has become the face of subscription gaming since it launched in 2017, using cheap pricing and Microsoft published games, including those from the company’s many new acquisitions, to corner the market. But with these new price increases, it’s not necessarily the no-brainer it once was. Here’s how the new Game Pass shakes up against the competition.

• The obvious comparison for Game Pass is PlayStation Plus, which starts at $9.99 a month and extends to $17.99. Game Pass’ new pricing no longer makes PlayStation the more expensive option, and with its highest tier, PlayStation Plus offers access to features like game streaming, trials for games not fully included in the plan, Ubisoft+ Classics, and an expansive library of both retro and current-gen titles

• Included free with Amazon Prime or available standalone for $8.99 a month is Prime Gaming. A more humble service, it gives away free games on a regular basis and unlocks content in other games. It also gives users one free Twitch channel subscription, exclusive emoticons in Twitch, and various other features for the social media site.

• EA Play and Ubisoft+ might be available, in part, through other subscription bundles, but you can also buy them standalone to get access to hundreds of games across those publishers’ respective libraries. EA Play is the cheaper of the two, starting at $5.99 a month, which will unlock the library and give you early access to select games. Ubisoft+ Classics lets you play slightly older titles for $7.99 a month, but unlocking newer games with day-one access is a hefty $17.99.

• Nintendo Switch Online is a more restricted option, being stuck on the Switch and coming with fewer games. It’s primarily there to unlock online play for Switch games, but it also comes with a selection of retro titles. It starts at $19.99 per year, making it the cheapest of the bunch—but paying $49.99 for the expansion pack will net you games from additional systems, including the Nintendo 64 and even Sega Genesis.

• Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass are the mobile answer to Xbox Game Pass, including unrestricted access to certain games and removing microtransactions. Apple Arcade, in particular, is known for its exclusives, being the debut home for titles like Fantasian. Apple Arcade costs $6.99 a month while Google Play Pass costs $4.99 a month.

You can get a 15-month subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal, including 1TB OneDrive storage, on sale for $54.97 right now (reg. $69).  This subscription includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more available on multiple devices. You can download each app on Windows or Mac machines, and compatible apps are also available for mobile devices. The subscription comes with 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. It also includes Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Editor, and Clipchamp video editor, and can be used on up to five devices at the same time.

You can get a 15-month subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal on sale for $54.97 right now (reg. $69), though prices can change at any time. 

The dream of home ownership has never been more challenging in this country—home prices are soaring and interest rates are at the highest point in more than a decade. And even if you manage to find a strategy that lets you consider buying a house within your budget, the reality of home ownership is that it’s really expensive. Buying the house is step one—paying for that house is steps two through 360 (monthly mortgage payments).

Getting those mortgage payments down to a more manageable level has sparked the rise of “non-qualifying” (NQ) mortgages with longer terms (they’re “non-qualifying” because they don’t fit within the guidelines set out by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and thus don’t qualify to be sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae). Most “conforming” mortgages have 7-, 15-, or 30-year terms, but NQ mortgages offer 40-year terms—or even longer, in some cases. Just like with a car loan, a longer term translates into lower monthly payments, so these NQ mortgages might seem like a way to work a home purchase into your tight budget.

Most 40- or 50-year mortgages are the result of modifications of existing loans, but it’s possible to find one for the purchase of a home. This isn’t a great idea, though, because of math.

Why a 40-year mortgage is a bad financial choice

At first glance a 40- or 50-year mortgage might seem like a good option. Lower monthly payments? Yes, please. But when you crunch the numbers, the benefits are actually kind of small compared to the downside.

Say you’re looking to get a loan to buy a home that costs $400,000. You have $80,000 to put down as a deposit (yay for you!), so you need to borrow $320,000 to buy the place (we’ll ignore closing costs, insurance, and other expenses in this example). If you go with a traditional 30-year fixed-rate loan at an interest rate of 7%, your monthly payment would be $2,128.97 and the total cost of the mortgage will be $766,428.47, so you wind up paying $446,428.47 in interest (assuming you never refinance or sell the place).

If you opt for a 40-year mortgage at the same 7% rate, your monthly payment drops to $1,988.58—but the total cost of the loan balloons to $954,518.45—and you wind up paying a whopping $634,518.45 in interest, or $188,089.75 more. If you somehow finagle a 50-year mortgage from someone, your monthly payment becomes $1,925.40, and your total cost will be $1,155,241.83, $835,241.83 of which would be interest. That’s nearly $400,000 more than the 30-year mortgage.

When you look at the numbers like that, it’s pretty clear that the monthly payment is only marginally smaller, but your overall cost skyrockets.

Other problems with the 40-year mortgage

The extra cost is the main downside of a 40- or 50-year mortgage, but even if you’re okay with that tradeoff there are some other negatives to consider:

• Lack of choice: Another reason to avoid 40- or 50-year mortgages is the limited selection of lenders. Because these are non-conforming loans, a lot of banks and other lenders don’t offer them—there’s higher risk for them. They’re out there, but instead of shopping around for the best deal, you might find yourself stuck with the one lender willing to work with you on the mortgage terms.

• Higher rates: Another downside is that these loans often carry higher interest rates, because they’re riskier and it takes a lot longer for the lender to get their money.

• Slow equity: Paying off your mortgage increases the amount of the house you actually own—your equity. If you put down 20% when you bought the place, you’re starting off with 20% equity and building from there. While most mortgages are structured to pay more money to interest at first, you’re usually building equity relatively quickly as you pay down the principle of the loan—typically you’ll have significant equity after 5-10 years of steady payments. But with a 40- or 50-year mortgage, this process is a lot slower—lower monthly payments mean less equity being built every month.

If you can’t seem to make your budget work for a traditional 30-year mortgage, the reduction in monthly payments might make a longer mortgage seem attractive. It’s only an option if you’re okay with paying hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the home and working with a very limited number of lenders, or if you have a solid plan to refinance very quickly and just want the lower payments for a short while.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced it is providing $100 million in grants to help states, Tribal Nations, and U.S. territories implement SUN Bucks – a new, permanent program that helps families buy groceries for their children during the summer.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2024 – USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service today awarded a total of $10 million in grants through its partners – Full Plates Full Potential and the Illinois Public Health Institute – as part of USDA’s $100 million Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. The initiative empowers schools to continue serving delicious, healthy meals that give students nutrition to grow and thrive.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for July 10, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is easier; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 10, Wordle #1,117! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

Four of today’s letters are from our mnemonic. The other is somewhat common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

Very lean.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are two vowels.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with G. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with T. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is GAUNT.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, then guessed FLUNG, as possible solutions included these common and somewhat common consonants. From here, the answer was clear: GAUNT.

Wordle 1,117 4/6

⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛
🟨⬛🟩⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was easier. The hint was “like the sound of a trumpet or siren” and the answer contained four common letters and one fairly common letters.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was BLARE.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.