A lot of word games have come and gone since Wordle became a global phenomenon in 2022, as only a handful of them managed to stick around as fun and addictive games to play every day. NYT’s new Strands feels like it could become the next big addicting word game as it employs a bunch of fun elements from various puzzle games that we know and love. The result is a surprisingly addictive game that’ll make you want to come back for more every day.
NYT Strands is fairly simple to play once you get a grasp on how the puzzle works, but you may have some trouble initially while working your way through the words. It’s nothing a few tips and a simple guide can’t help you with, though. So read on, as I jump into the details of playing NYT Strands and help you get a sense of what you’re getting into.
What is NYT Strands?
A classic word game from the New York Times Games
NYT’s Strands is a classic word game that throws 48 letters in a 6×8 grid in front you every day. This particular grid is accompanied by a short clue that essentially acts as a starting point of your guessing game. Your task is to find all the words that fit the theme hinted by the clue.
There is no set number of words you can guess every day as it mostly depends on letters on the grid. You will, however, have to find a core word every day dubbed “spangram,” which describes the puzzle’s theme on that day. The word touches two sides of the grid, either top to bottom and left to right, or vice-versa, and that’s where the word “span” in spangram comes from. It, well, spans the grid, get it?
How to play NYT Strands?
A step-by-step guide
Now that you know what the game is all about, it’s time to jump into the ins and outs of how to actually play it every day. NYT’s Strands can be played on both smartphones and PCs, and you can access it by heading over to NYT’s main games page.
Playing it on a smartphone, I’d say, is easier than playing it on a PC as it’s relatively easier to tap on a letter or drag your finger across multiple letters to form words than, say, using your mouse or a trackpad. But that’s just me, though, and your mileage may vary.
To play Strands:
- Go to the Strands page on the New York Times website and click Play.
- Make a note of today’s theme, which is essentially a clue that’ll help you solve the puzzle.
- Start looking for words on the grid that’s related to the theme of the day.
I suggest finding the spangram first as it’s the core word that describes the puzzle’s theme and makes it easy to guess the remaining words.
- Once you spot a word or a spangram, simply tap each letter in order, and double-tap the last one to complete the word. Alternatively, you can also tap and drag across the letters to form a word.
And that’s all there is to know about playing Strands. Words turn blue — or yellow in case of a spangram — when you’ve guessed them correctly, and that’s how you know you’ve got it right and can move on to the next one. Incorrect words that aren’t a part of the theme won’t change colors, but they’ll count towards your hint. You get a hint after you guess three incorrect words, so you won’t be stuck in limbo forever.
You’ll know you’ve solved the puzzle successfully when the grid is full of strands that form words. There’ll be multiple blue strands with one huge yellow strand that spans across the grid. The game will also throw a pop-up at the end, telling you how you performed.
Tips and tricks to quickly solve NYT Strands
Guess the words like a pro
Like word search puzzles, Strands sees you search for words in a grid of letters; the only difference here is that these words now have a common theme. Still, some of the most common techniques for word puzzles apply here, so let’s have a look:
- Strands doesn’t follow standard word puzzle rules: This is the most basic trick for users who’ve been solving word search puzzles. The words in Strands don’t appear in straight lines or diagonals. Instead, they can follow any path, so get creative and look for words in any pattern, zig-zag, or otherwise.
- Mark every non-theme word to collect hints: One of my favorite thing about NYT Strands is that you’re not helpless if you cannot find the theme words. You can mark non-theme words you encounter; if you mark three of them, you are awarded a hint. There was this one time when I had to guess 6 words and had to use 5 hints to solve the puzzle.
- Fill the edges and find the spangram easily: First, try to look for words at the edges of the letter grid, and fill either the top/ bottom edge or the left/ right edge. You can then ignore those edges while scanning for spangrams. For instance, if you’ve filled the top or the bottom edge, your spangram will span horizontally, and vice-versa.
- Remember letters don’t overlap: Once a letter is part of a word in Strands, it can’t be part of another word. So, look at the remaining letters in the grid to find new words related to the day’s theme.
NYT Strands could be as big as Wordle
Playing NYT Strands, as you can tell, is fairly simple, especially when you get a grip on how things work. I wish I could help you guess the words via this guide, too, but you’ll have to head to our site and find NYT Strands daily answers and hint guides for that. Good luck with the words, and have fun!
