Today’s NYT Strands hints and answers.
Looking for Friday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:
Hey there! I hope you’re having an excellent weekend.
Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers for Saturday, December 7 are coming right up.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s available on the NYT website and in the NYT Games app alongside the likes of Wordle and Connections (which we also cover in daily guides on Forbes Games).
There’s a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and you’ll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.
You’ll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links at least two sides of the board, but it may not start or end there. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.
Every letter is used once in one of the theme words and spangram. You can connect letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and it’s possible to switch directions in the middle of a word. If you’re playing on a touchscreen, double tap the last letter to submit your guess.
If you find three valid words of at least four letters that are not part of the theme, you’ll unlock the Hint button. Clicking this will highlight the letters that make up one of the theme words.
Be warned: You’ll need to be on your toes. Sometimes you’ll need to fill the missing word(s) in a phrase. On other days, the game may revolve around synonyms or homophones. The difficulty will vary from day to day, and the puzzle creators will try to surprise you sometimes.
What Is Today’s Strands Hint?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hint for today’s Strands puzzle, I’ll reveal what the answer words are.
The official theme hint for today’s Strand puzzle is…
Prepare to be eaten
Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
Ways to get a certain food ready
There are seven theme words to find today, including the spangram.
What Are Today’s NYT Strands Hints?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Strands hints.
Here are the first two letters of every theme word in today’s puzzle. They’re ordered from left to right, then top to bottom by any letter of the word appearing for the first time:
What Are Today’s NYT Strands Answers?
Before I reveal the other the full word list, I’ll first tell you the spangram and show you where that is on the grid.
This is your final spoiler warning!
Today’s Strands spangram is…
HOT POTATO
Here’s where you’ll find it on the grid…
New York Times Strands screenshot, showing the highlighted term HOT POTATO
Today’s Strands theme words are…
- ROASTED
- BAKED
- HOT POTATO
- FONDANT
- MASHED
- SCALLOPED
- FRIED
Here’s what the completed grid looks like…
Completed Strands grid for December 7 featuring the words ROASTED, BAKED, HOT POTATO, FONDANT, … [+]
At first, this grid was pretty straightforward, but I ended up needing a hint right at the end. I couldn’t figure out the spangram for the life of me. I just thought the theme was generic ways of preparing food. But as I got to the end I still couldn’t see the spangram or the second-last theme word. So I needed a little help to get SCALLOPED before the spangram became clear.
I used one hint and the spangram was the seventh theme word I found.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Strands clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog for hints and the solution for Sunday’s game if you need them.
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Strands and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.