Before today’s Strands hints, spangram and answers, here are Saturday’s:
Hey, folks! Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers for Sunday, August 17 are coming right up.
Please note: I’m having with image uploads at the minute, so I haven’t been able to include screenshots of today’s game. Apologies, and thanks for understanding.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s available on the NYT website and in the NYT Games app alongside the likes of Wordle and Connections (which we also cover in daily guides at Forbes Gaming).
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 at least two sides of the board, but it may not start or end there. 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?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hint for today’s Strands puzzle, I’ll reveal what the first two letters for the spangram and the other words are.
The official theme hint for today’s Strands puzzle is…
Think again!
Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
Go with your gut, don’t focus on the logical outcome
There are five theme words to find today, including the spangram.
What Are Today’s NYT Strands Opening Letters?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Strands opening letters.
Here are the first two letters of every theme word in today’s puzzle. They’re ordered from left to right, then top to bottom by any letter of the word appearing for the first time:
What Is Today’s NYT Strands Spangram?
Before I reveal the other the full word list, I’ll first tell you the spangram.
This is your final spoiler warning!
Scroll slowly, because I’ll tell you what all the theme words are immediately after revealing the spangram is.
Today’s Strands spangram is…
RIGHT BRAIN
What Are Today’s NYT Strands Answers?
Today’s Strands theme words are…
- INTUITION
- CREATIVITY
- FEELINGS
- SPONTANEITY
- RIGHT BRAIN
I don’t remember seeing a five-word round of Strands before, but this was a fun flip-side version of yesterday’s puzzle, which was about the kind of thinking you do with the left side of your brain. As such, the theme clue made this one pretty obvious, and I found the spangram right away.
I had a pretty good idea about INTUITION when I spotted the “int” in the top left, but it took me a moment to find the right path there. CREATIVITY and FEELINGS were easy enough to spot. It took me a minute to decipher the remaining letters and complete the grid with SPONTANEITY.
I didn’t use any hints and the spangram was the first theme word I found.
See you tomorrow for more Strands fun!
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