Strands is a New York Times game that recently moved out of beta and can now be found in the New York Times’ official Games app. While it may not receive as much attention as Wordle and Connections, Strands is just as challenging and entertaining. In this game, players are tasked with finding words relating to a specific theme and submitting them by clicking or dragging the letters in order. Once a theme word is found, it will light up in blue. Players can also uncover hint words that provide clues to the theme words, with the goal of eventually revealing the spangram, a special word that spans the entire puzzle and summarizes the theme.
To play Strands, players must use the theme of the day to search for words related to that topic. When a word is identified, the player can drag or click the letters in order and click on the last letter twice to submit the guess. Finding three hint words, each with at least four letters, will reward the player by revealing a theme word. If the theme word is difficult to unscramble, finding three more hint words will highlight the letters of the theme word in order. The ultimate goal is to use every letter on the board in either a theme word or the spangram, with theme words filling the entire board without overlapping.
For today’s Strands puzzle, the theme is “Most excellent!” with a clue hint of “Totally tubular.” Players can unlock in-game hints by finding words that fit the puzzle’s theme, with every set of three words of four letters or more revealing a theme word. Some clue words provided for the current puzzle include GORE, GORY, LESS, WELL, GELS, TOTS, SHOTS, COIL, HOTS, THEY, COST, COTS, ROWS, VOWS, SHOE, THOSE, HOST, and THAT. These words can help players progress through the puzzle and uncover the theme words and spangram.
In today’s Strands puzzle, the answers that tie into the theme of “Most excellent!” include words such as BOSS, HYPE, DANDY, SWELL, CHOICE, GROOVY, and RIGHTEOUS. The goal of the puzzle is to find all of these words, as well as the spangram, which for this puzzle is “THATS COOL.” Players can start finding this spangram by locating the T that is five letters down on the far left side of the puzzle and then following the word up and down to complete it. By uncovering all of the answers and the spangram, players will have successfully completed the Strands puzzle for the day.
Overall, Strands is a challenging and engaging word puzzle game available within the New York Times Games app. Players are tasked with finding words related to a specific theme and using them to uncover the theme words and spangram that summarize the puzzle’s overall topic. By following the rules and clues provided for each day’s puzzle, players can progress through the game and test their word-finding skills. As Strands gains more attention and fans, it has the potential to become just as popular as other New York Times games like Wordle and Connections.
