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 Monday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, May 18 (game #806).
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.
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 #807) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… On the rise
NYT Strands today (game #807) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- MOCK
- HULL
- POKE
- ROLL
- GREEK
- DIRGE
NYT Strands today (game #807) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 12 letters
NYT Strands today (game #807) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: bottom, 1st column
Last side: bottom, 3rd column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #807) – the answers
The answers to today’s Strands, game #807, are…
- MOUND
- HILL
- KNOLL
- SLOPE
- RIDGE
- BUTTE
- HUMMOCK
- SPANGRAM: HIGHERGROUND
- My rating: Hard
- My score: Perfect
I had never heard of the word HUMMOCK before, but then I don’t frequent that many peat bogs, so I think I can be forgiven. It’s a great word to say, though.
The rest of the words describing HIGHERGROUND I am more familiar with, especially as I am currently training for a very hilly long-distance cycle ride in September and trying to build up the ability to get up any HILL without moaning, groaning and stopping. As a consequence I am recalibrating some things I used to regard as hills as now a mere SLOPE.
Meanwhile, BUTTE took me a little while as I initially thought it only had one T – which would instead be the rather rugged Scottish island, which I have discovered via a Google search contains a large number of hummocks.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Monday, May 18, game #806)
- ORANGE
- CLEMENTINE
- LIME
- KUMQUAT
- POMELO
- TANGERINE
- SPANGRAM: CITRUS
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.


