The New York Times has a compelling new puzzle game called Strands, and it feels like a mix of a traditional word search and a topic-focused puzzle like Connections. If you need help getting used to the new game or want some extra hints to help you solve the latest puzzle, we're here to offer as much or as little help as needed.
How to Play Strands
You're dealing with a 6 x 8 grid of letters and need to find words, but unlike a traditional word search, the flow of each word can travel in different directions. In other words, the "strands" of letters pivot all over the place. You can tap or trace your finger on your mobile device to submit a word.
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. All letters needed for a word related to the theme will be highlighted with circles. Note that all words must be at least four letters long, whether on theme or not. 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 was "This'll all blow over." All the on-theme words were lightweight things like BALLOON, BUBBLE, and STRAW that can blow around in the wind, hence the Spangram of LIGHTWEIGHT.
April 8 Puzzle Hints
"It goes by fast" is the April 8 hint, which sounds like a reference to time, perhaps?
Today's Non-Theme Words for Strands
As always, once you submit three off-theme words, you'll get a hint highlighting all the letters used in an on-theme word. Every word, whether on- or off-theme, must have at least four characters. Here's an assortment of off-theme words we found that helped us get hints.
- COPE
- SCOPE
- COKE
- COPIED
- TIES
- PIED
- WEEKS
- CONE
- CENT
- MINE
- MINES
- RUDE
- HADE
- CADE
- RIPE
- WEED
- PEED
- DEEP
- TIME
- PIECE
- PIER
- PIECE
- PIECES
- CADS
- HADS
- CHAD
- CHADS
- TUNE
- TUNES
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Today's On-Theme Words for Strands
Once we submitted three words and got a hint, we uncovered the on-theme word of HOUR, confirming our theory about time. Every on-theme word is a different span of time all the way up to a CENTURY.
- HOUR
- MONTH
- WEEK
- SECOND
- MINUTE
- CENTURY
- DECADE
- TIMEPIECES (Spangram)
