Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Thursday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, July 10 (game #494).
Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #495) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… It could be verse
NYT Strands today (game #495) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- SMILE
- PILE
- RACE
- LACE
- CHIP
- SLIP
NYT Strands today (game #495) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 6 letters
NYT Strands today (game #495) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: left, 5th row
Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #495) – the answers
The answers to today’s Strands, game #495, are…
- SONNET
- LIMERICK
- EPIC
- ELEGY
- HAIKU
- BALLAD
- ACROSTIC
- SPANGRAM: POETRY
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 2 hints
So, even though I saw the word SONNET really quickly, I struggled with the rest of today’s word search and needed a couple of hints to get me home.
Anyway, I think I may have been distracted by the number of rhyming non-game words on the board (I couldn’t resist) and the incredibly short spangram – it’s been quite a while since we’ve had a minimal six-letter snake.
Despite being only eight letters left, ACROSTIC still took me a while to get as it was a new word to me – it’s a poem where the first letter of each line forms a word. Kind of like a puzzle within a poem.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 10, game #494)
- DROWSY
- SPENT
- WEARY
- FATIGUED
- TIRED
- KNACKERED
- SPANGRAM: SLEEPYHEAD
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.
