The New York Times's latest puzzle game is Strands, a brainy mix of the traditional word search with a topic-focused puzzle like Connections. If you need help getting used to the game or want extra hints to help you solve the latest puzzle, we're here to offer as much or as little assistance as you might want.
How to Play Strands
Strands features a 6 x 8 grid of letters. You must find words using the theme provided, but unlike a traditional word search, the flow of each word can travel in different directions and pivot. In other words, the "strands" of letters twist everywhere. To submit a word, you can tap or trace your cursor on your mobile device or computer browser.
Each day's puzzle has a somewhat obtuse theme that reads like a crossword clue. Official puzzle words are all related to that theme, but there's also a way to receive further hints: if you submit three words unrelated to the theme, you'll receive a hint in the form of all the letters needed for a word related to the theme. These always need to be four letters or longer.
It'll then be up to you to guess the flow of that particular strand. As you unlock official guesses, they'll be highlighted in blue. Eventually, you'll uncover the theme's name in gold — called a Spangram! — as it bisects the rest of the puzzle and touches two opposite sides of the board.
In the above example, the theme "rolling in the aisles" is an obtuse hint that the hint involves sections of the grocery store. As such, official words are things like DAIRY, BAKERY, and PRODUCE.
April 3 Puzzle Hints
Today's theme is "Play time!" Are all of the theme words games of some kind?
Without giving too much away, we'll point out that the actual clue involves drawing lines quite a bit. More broadly, think about art and design as you try to figure out the words.
Today's Non-Theme Words for Strands
There are plenty of non-theme words you can submit. In no particular order, here are some non-theme words to look for:
- RATS
- BATS
- LUST
- CARP
- GRIP
- RAGE
- RAGER
- AGER
- WATER
- WARE
- CAST
- BAST
- ORCA
- CASE
- WARD
- SHIP
- BROAD
- BROKE
- BROCK
- ROCK
Remember that for every three you find, Strands will show you all the letters used in an on-theme word. Then it's up to you to figure out how to use it to spell out a word.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Today's On-Theme Words for Strands
RATS immediately jumped out to us, so we glanced for other easy -ATS words to use in order to get a hint. But then we uncovered CATS. After we submitted BATS and also found LUST, it unlocked the letters to spell WICKED. Then the theme became clear: "Play time!" refers to Broadway play names.
Here are all of the on-theme words on the board today:
- CATS
- WICKED
- GREASE
- CABARET
- CAROUSEL
- HAIRSPRAY
- BROADWAY (Spangram)
