The Strands problem from the New York Times is a variation on the traditional word search. In addition to Wordle and Connections, which we also discuss in our daily recommendations at Forbes Gaming, it is accessible on the NYT website and in the NYT Games app.
Every day, a new Strands game is available to play. You will be shown a six-by-eight grid of letters in the game. Finding a group of words that share a common theme will give you a hint as to what that theme is. The theme word will continue to be highlighted in blue once you locate it.
Additionally, you will need to locate a spangram, which is a particular word. This reveals the commonality between the words. Although it may not begin or stop there, the spangram connects at least two sides of the board. The spangram may be a proper name, but the theme words will not be. The spangram will continue to be highlighted in yellow once you locate it.
Each letter appears once in a spangram or theme word. Letters can be joined vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, and you can change the direction of a word in the midst.
To submit your estimate if you’re using a touchscreen, double-tap the final letter. The Hint button will be unlocked if you can identify three legitimate words with at least four letters that are not related to the theme. The letters that comprise one of the theme words will be highlighted when you click this.
You’ll need to be alert, so be prepared. You may occasionally need to add the word or words that are missing from a phrase. On other days, the focus of the game can be homophones or synonyms. Every day will have a different level of difficulty, and the puzzle designers will occasionally try to surprise you.
What Do the Strands of Today Indicate?
Take your time scrolling! I’ll give away the answer words for today’s Strands problem right after the clue.
The official theme hint for today’s Strand puzzle is…
- A fungus among-us
- Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
- The life of the party i.e. a fun guy
- There are seven theme words to find today, including the spangram.
What Are the Hints for Today’s NYT Strands?
Warning: spoilers! Wait until you are ready to discover today’s Strands hints before continuing to scroll down the page. The initial two letters of each theme word in today’s puzzle are listed here.
They are arranged by any letter of the word that appears for the first time, first from left to right and then from top to bottom:
- SH
- MU
- TR
- CR
- BU
- OY
- EN
