Deeply difficult puzzle today, no exaggeration. One of the hardest I have ever done as it borderline doesn’t use actual words. You’ll see.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s in beta for now, which means it’ll only stick around if enough people play it every day.
There’s a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and you’ll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.
You’ll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links two opposite sides of the board. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.
Every letter is used once in one of the theme words and spangram. You can connect letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and it’s possible to switch directions in the middle of a word. If you’re playing on a touchscreen, double tap the last letter to submit your guess.
If you find three valid words of at least four letters that are not part of the theme, you’ll unlock the Hint button. Clicking this will highlight the letters that make up one of the theme words.
Be warned: You’ll need to be on your toes. Sometimes you’ll need to fill the missing word(s) in a phrase. On other days, the game may revolve around synonyms or homophones. The difficulty will vary from day to day, and the puzzle creators will try to surprise you sometimes.
What Is Today’s Strands Hint?
I will do the official hint first and then move on to one I make myself, which I think you will need this time.
Crossed Words
And my hint is:
Combos
What Are Today’s Strands Answers?
The spangram will show up first and then I will do the full list of answers below that.
PORTMANTEAUX
And here is where you find that on the board:
The answers are here, and I will just write what the combination words are if you want to know:
- ATHLEISURE – Athletics and leisure
- ZORSES – Zebras and horses
- ANKLET – Ankle and bracelet
- BRUNCH – Breakfast and lunch
- SPORK – Spoon and fork
- SMOG – Smoke and fog
Easily one of the hardest puzzles I have ever done, here no exaggeration, because most of these are not even real words you could even try to unscramble. Had no idea a Zorse, a literal mixture of a zebra and a horse, was a real thing. Athleisure was almost impossible to figure out. Just a wild puzzle today.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
