Strands Hints Today

How To Use These Hints

The theme clue is the puzzle's own, and it is often a pun or a sideways description. If it means nothing to you yet, open hint 1 for the number of theme words and their lengths, which tells you how big a word you are hunting for. Hint 2 gives the spangram's length and first letter. Once the spangram is found the theme is usually obvious and the rest of the board follows.

Strands In One Minute

Strands is a six by eight grid of letters. Hidden in it are several theme words and one spangram, a word or phrase that describes the theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. Words are made by joining letters that touch, in any direction, including diagonally. Every letter on the board belongs to exactly one answer, so when you are done the grid is completely used.

Any other real word of four letters or more still counts for something: find three of them and the game gives you a hint, which highlights the letters of one theme word.

Getting Better At It

Start in the corners. A corner letter only has three neighbours, so the words that can pass through it are limited, and that is the fastest way to pin down where a theme word must run. Look for letters that rarely sit together in English, like a Q, a J or a lone vowel cut off at the edge, since every letter has to belong somewhere.

When the spangram is long, scan the board's edges for a run that could plausibly cross it. The spangram has to touch both sides, so it almost always runs the full width or height.

About These Pages

Hints are built automatically from each day's puzzle, then checked against this page's rules: nothing is revealed until you open it, and every hint gives away less than the one after it. Word Unscrambler is independent and is not affiliated with The New York Times. The games themselves are at nytimes.com, and a subscription is the best way to support the people who make them.