Looking for Thursday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:
Happy Friday, folks! Before we get started, a quick programming note: going forward, I’ll be splitting Strands coverage with Paul Tassi and Erik Kain, two of my fellow Forbes contributors. As things stand, Paul will take the reins for a week starting tomorrow, then Erik will take over next Friday. I’ll be back with you in a couple of weeks and I’ll still be playing the game every day in the meantime.
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…
Old haunts
Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
Ghouls
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…
SUPERNATURAL
Here’s where you’ll find it on the grid…
The rest of today’s Strands theme words are…
- SPIRIT
- GHOST
- WRAITH
- SHADE
- SPECTER
- PHANTOM
Here’s what the completed grid looks like…
I didn’t see anything that matched the theme clue to start with, so I had to unlock a hint. TARP, TARPS and RATS at the top right gave me the letters for GHOST. So, I naturally figured we were looking for undead beings here, as opposed to my first thought of popular hangout spots — pubs etc are often referred to as “old haunts.”
After that, I found PHANTOM in the bottom right, then the spangram. That left SHADE on the right. SPECTER in the bottom left, WRAITH running down the side and SPIRIT in the top left sealed the deal.
Overall, I used one hint and the spangram was the third theme word I found. Not a perfect game but not too bad at all.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Strands clues and answers. Be sure to check Paul’s blog for hints and the solution for Saturday’s game if you need them.
