Looking for Friday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:
Hey there, folks! Happy to be back with you after Paul and Erik were your Strands captains for the last couple of weeks. Let’s keep your streak going and have some fun while we’re at it, shall we?
Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers are coming right up.
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.
“Some themes are fill-in-the-blank phrases. They may also be steps in a process, items that all belong to the same category, synonyms or homophones,” The New York Times notes. “Just as she varies the difficulty of Wordle puzzles within a week, [Wordle and Strands editor Tracy] Bennett plans to throw Strands solvers curveballs every once in a while.”
What Is Today’s Strands Hint?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hint for today’s Strands puzzle, I’ll reveal what the answer words are.
The official theme hint for today’s Strand puzzle is…
Camouflage
Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
Bagheera couldn’t hide ’em if he had any.
What Are Today’s Strands Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Strands answers.
I’ll first tell you the spangram and show you where that is on the grid. I’ll then tell you the other words and show you how they fit in.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Strands spangram is…
SPOTTY
Here’s where you’ll find it on the grid…
The rest of today’s Strands theme words are…
- CHEETAH
- LEOPARD
- LADYBUG
- DALMATIAN
- HYENA
- GIRAFFE
Here’s what the completed grid looks like…
I was a little stumped at first, so I decided to go for a hint. I found TIFF, MIFF and TINE at the bottom to unlock one. The game gave me the letters for HYENA.
Hmm. I didn’t really see how that fit in with the theme clue, however, it did help me spot (pun not intended) CHEETAH curving around the top left corner. We’re definitely looking for animals of some kind.
I then found LEOPARD in the top right, and you know what those animals can’t do? Hide their spots.
To that end, I found the spangram snaking across the center of the grid. LADYBUG, DALMATIAN and GIRAFFE sealed the deal.
Overall, I used one hint and the spangram was the fourth theme word I found.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Strands clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog for hints and the solution for Sunday’s game if you need them.
