  I discuss the recent progress in bypassing the KPZ barrier for the existence
of nonperturbative bosonic strings in $1<d<25$. I consider string anomalies
which emerge from higher terms of the DeWitt-Seeley expansion as $\varepsilon
\times \varepsilon^{-1}$ with $\varepsilon$ being a UV cutoff. I show they give
a nonvanishing contribution to the central charge and to the string
susceptibility, telling the Nambu-Goto and Polyakov strings apart. I describe
an exact solution of the emerging four-derivative two-dimensional conformal
theory and its relation to minimal models.
  Talk at "Gravity, Strings and Fields: A Conference in Honour of Gordon
Semenoff", Montreal July 24-28, 2023.

High Energy Physics - Theory;High Energy Physics - Lattice