Entertainment
LEGO Thief's Legendary Heist Thwarted By Authorities
By TeeJay Small
| Published
If you’ve been known to enjoy the odd heist movie from time to time, now might be the moment to start tuning into the news. According to a report from The Guardian, a California man was just caught in a scheme to defraud his local Target retailer out of tens of thousands of dollars in LEGO pieces. The Irvine police department announced that they had apprehended the brick-burgling bandit on April 14, with over $34,000 in LEGO minifigures in his possession.
Though the whole case sounds a little baroque, the heist is a lot more sophisticated than you might expect. Apparently the suspect, 28-year-old Jarrelle Augustine, is accused of pulling over 70 small-scale steals, accumulating his fortune in tiny bits and pieces. You might even say he was building his set, brick by brick. Allegedly every time Augustine would visit his local Target, he would purchase expensive LEGO sets, only to carefully swap out high-value LEGO pieces with dried pasta before returning the boxes.
I Built This Heist Brick By Brick
Needless to say, once Target employees attempted to resell the returned merchandise, they were met with little more than a box of Goya brand durum wheat semolina. Police in the area have been building a case against Augustine for more than four months, and eventually located well-organized bins of LEGO minifigures in his home. Multiple bags of Goya pasta were found as well, offering one of the strangest and funniest evidence photo spreads the department has ever seen. The Facebook reel announcing the arrest even referred to the heist as “a pasta-tively terrible plan.”
There’s no way of knowing for sure, but based on the layout of the minifigs, it looks as though Augustine planned to resell the stolen figurines on an online marketplace such as Ebay. These pieces can sell for hundreds of dollars each online, so the manicotti mastermind might have been turning a pretty penny for his efforts. If not for the Irvine police department, the perp might still be swapping stormtroopers with tortellini to this very day.
One of the strangest details about this ordeal is the fact that it isn’t the only recent LEGO related heist to strike the area. Authorities have previously charged multiple California residents in cases related to LEGO theft, with some operations accounting for millions of dollars in stolen revenue. One Riverside county man even allegedly hijacked two freight trailers full of the children’s toy sets. Clearly there is a booming criminal enterprise with these bricks serving as their foundation.
To my eye, this seems like a story that’s just begging to be turned into a buddy cop movie. I could see Paul Walter Hauser and Walton Goggins teaming up to stop the farfalle fugitive, perhaps played by Keagan-Michael Key. Throw in Danny McBride as the chief of police, and a few budding comedians to round out the criminal underworld, and you’ve got yourself an A+ Hulu original.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for May 9, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
Bubbly.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
PERKY
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Hurdle Word 2 hint
To accumulate.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
AMASS
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Hurdle Word 3 hint
A kink.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
CRICK
Hurdle Word 4 hint
A beer.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
LAGER
Final Hurdle hint
Harmony.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
AMITY
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for May 9, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you have a green thumb.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Garden varieties
The words are related to plants.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe garden crops.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Spring Veggie.
NYT Strands word list for May 9
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Asparagus
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Artichoke
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Onion
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Lettuce
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Radish
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Spring Veggie
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 9, 2026
Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you have great style.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
A soft fabric.
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Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no recurring letters.
Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter S.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
SATIN
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.
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