The New York Times has a compelling new puzzle game called Strands, and it feels like a mix of a traditional word search and a topic-focused puzzle like Connections. If you need help getting used to the new game or want some extra hints to help you solve the latest puzzle, we're here to offer as much or as little help as needed.
How to Play Strands
You're dealing with a 6 x 8 grid of letters and need to find words, but unlike a traditional word search, the flow of each word can travel in different directions. In other words, the "strands" of letters pivot all over the place. You can tap or trace your finger on your mobile device to submit a word.
Each day's puzzle has a somewhat obtuse theme that reads like a crossword clue. Official puzzle words are all related to that theme, but there's also a way to receive further hints: if you submit three words not related to the theme, you'll receive a hint. All letters needed for a word related to the theme will be highlighted with circles. Note that all words must be at least four letters long, whether on theme or not. These always need to be four letters or longer.
It'll then be up to you to guess the flow of that particular strand. As you unlock official guesses, they'll be highlighted in blue. Eventually, you'll uncover the theme's name in gold — called a Spangram! — as it bisects the rest of the puzzle and touches two opposite sides of the board.
The theme from April 13, featured above, was "group think." The "group" part referred to musical groups, aka bands. All of the on-theme words were band names like RUSH and NIRVANA with a Spangram of ROCK BANDS. Most of the themes are about as obtuse, so you always have to think a little bit outside the box.
April 14 Puzzle Hints
April 14's puzzle has a theme of "Join the club!" So, do all of the words some reference a club of some kind? We'll see.
Today's Non-Theme Words for Strands
Once you submit three off-theme words of at least four letters, you'll get a hint highlighting all the letters used in an on-theme word. And even after successfully submitting on-theme words, you can still use any letter on the board to make new words. A good strategy is to use pieces of the on-theme words. If BARKS is a word, then definitely submit BARK as well to get progress towards unlocking a new clue. Here's an assortment of off-theme words we found that helped us get hints for the latest puzzle.
- COUNT
- ROCK
- BACK
- MACON
- MACE
- SACK
- TURK
- PELT
- MANA
- WITH
- MICE
- MATE
- PICK
- KETO
- WISE
- SAND
- MANY
- MASA
- MATS
- DICK
- MOAT
- COAT
- HURT
- HULK
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Today's On-Theme Words for Strands
After we got our first clue, we uncovered BACON, which made us think this was all related to a sandwich. Sure enough, the second on-theme word was TURKEY, followed by TOMATO. This is definitely a sandwich situation.
- BACON
- TURKEY
- TOMATO
- PICKLE
- LETTUCE
- MAYONNAISE
- SANDWICH (Spangram)
