Today’s NYT Strands hints and answers.
Looking for Thursday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:
Hey, gang! I hope you’re all set for the weekend. This is my last day of Strands coverage for a couple of weeks. My colleague Paul will be your guiding light for seven days starting tomorrow.
Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers are coming right up.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s now available 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…
And the Oscar goes to…
Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
Polished performers
There are eight theme words to find today, including the spangram.
What Are Today’s Strands Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Strands answers.
I’ll first tell you the spangram and show you where that is on the grid. I’ll then tell you the other words and show you how they fit in.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Strands spangram is…
BEST ACTING
Here’s where you’ll find it on the grid…
New York Times Strands screenshot, showing the highlighted term BEST ACTING.
The rest of today’s Strands theme words are…
- FIELD
- SWANK
- BERRY
- PHOENIX
- HUNT
- BRIDGES
- STONE
Here’s what the completed grid looks like…
Completed Strands grid for July 19 featuring the words FIELD, SWANK, BERRY, BEST ACTING, PHOENIX, … [+]
Nothing was quite clicking, since I was looking for names of Oscar-winning movies. I needed something else to go off of, so I unlocked hints that gave me the letters for HUNT, STONE and SWANK. That suggested I had to look for the surnames of Oscar winners (Helen, Emma and Hilary in those cases). There have been a lot of those!
However, I did find the spangram, which helped. That blocked off the letters for (Halle) BERRY and (Sally) FIELD. (Joaquin) PHOENIX was next, leaving (Jeff) BRIDGES for victory.
I used three hints and the spangram was the fourth theme word I found. Not an ideal way to wrap up my current stint of Strands coverage, but I’ll graciously smile and applaud those who got a perfect game.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Strands clues and answers. Be sure to check Paul’s blog for hints and the solution for Saturday’s game if you need them.