Looking for the most recent NYT Strands puzzle answers? BYTERMINAL publishes daily answers and hints for The New York Times Strands puzzles.
Understanding Strands
Strands is like a word find game, but without the list of words to find. Sometimes the theme is immediately apparent, making recognition of answers straightforward. However, for more challenging puzzles, Strands offers a helpful mechanism: you can form as many words of four or more letters as you wish. For every three such words found, the puzzle will highlight one of the theme answers. Note that you will still need to unscramble that answer, which can be quite difficult.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
Today’s puzzle theme isn’t an easy one, and some of the answers were tricky to unscramble. Read on for hints and all the answers.
Today's Theme
Today’s Strands theme is: On the sly…
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Shhh, this is a secret.
Unlocking In-Game Hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are example words that can be used to get hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
SHIFT, FAVE, SIRE, RISE, RISEN, THEN, DEAL, TEAL, STEAL, COVER
Today's Answers
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them, every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-spangram answers:
SHIFTY, COVERT, FURTIVE, DEVIOUS, STEALTHY
Identifying the Spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is SNEAKINGAROUND. To find it, start with the S that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind around.
Toughest Strands puzzles
Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest.
No. 1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.
No. 2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.
No. 3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.
