It’s Friday, the sun is shining (where I am, at least) and it’s a beautiful day to play Strands, the NYT’s new word game. If you haven’t played before and landed here and are curious about what it’s about, check out my What is NYT Strands? center. If you already know all about it, read on for my tips and to see how I did today.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about today’s NYT Strands is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #75) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Looking for a buddy
NYT Strands Today (Game #75) – Hint #2 – Clue Words
What are good keywords these days?
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hint system.
• FINE
• LIME
• PREEN
• TO GO
• CUPS
• BETTER
NYT Strands today (game #75) – hint #3 – spangram
What’s a hint for today’s spangram?
• Unique vision
NYT Strands Today (Game #75) – Hint #4 – Spangram Position
What are the two sides of the board that today’s spangram comes into contact with?
• First: left, 4th row
• Second: right, 3rd row
Okay, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands Today (Game #75) – The Answers
The answers to today’s Strands, game #75, are…
- CHOPSTICK
- BECAUSE
- PLIER
- BOOKEND
- TONGUE
- WING
- EARPLUG
- SPANGRAM: LINKED
- My score: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
It took me a while to make a breakthrough here, but once I had the concept, it wasn’t too bad. The theme clue of ‘In Search of a Partner’ is nice and cryptic; it makes sense once you know the spangram is LINKED or identify one or two answers, but until then there could be several other things. For example, I initially thought it was a chess reference, so I was excited when I saw ‘rook’, but that was either a coincidence or a deliberate distraction.
It wasn’t until I randomly discovered CHOPSTICK that I realized what was going on. Even then it was quite difficult to find other answers, as ‘things that go in pairs’ isn’t as obvious as some other recent Strands puzzles. However, finding the spangram made the task a little easier by reducing the number of permutations for many of the letters, and I eventually managed to find the other solutions.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands Answers (Thursday May 16, Game #74)
- BITTER
- SALTY
- SWEET
- PICKLES
- UMAMI
- SPICY
- SPICY
- SHARP
- SPANGRAM: FLAVORS
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s new word game, after Wordle and Connections. It is currently in beta and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I have a full guide to playing NYT Strands, complete with troubleshooting tips, so give that a read if you’re struggling to beat it every day.