Welcome “Strands” to an already tall list of NYT games where developers and editors have brilliantly picked and combined all the best features of every popular word game. Being the latest addition, it comprises more modernized, automated, and interactive aspects.
Strands NYT game will surely test your knowledge because it comes with a new daily challenge – a new grid of letters, a new theme of the day, and new words every 24 hours.
Based on the format of a 6-by-8 grid of letters (sometimes also with steps in a process), solvers are required to find the words that are relevant to the theme and must fit into the grid without overlapping. Yes, the theme is NOT provided. All you will get are the hints, and the rest is on your brainstorming skills.
Considering it is in the testing phase and has not been released officially in The New York Times’ Games app, you will only get it in BETA.
Points To Remember For Strands NYT Game
- The best (or we can say the outstanding part) about Strands is its humanization. It carries a human touch, as the word puzzle editors, along with other team members, have included their personal suggestions of words and phrases in the game, drafting clever wordplay. No robots involved!
- Focus on finding ONLY “themed terms” that tend to be longer than non-themed terms and will fill up all 48 squares.
- Neither the number of non-themed words found nor the hints used to affect your win. Still, one must keep the aim to win without any hints and get a “Perfect!” pop-up message for an extra wave of thrill.
- In a single wordplay, solvers are provided with a max of 6 or 7 themed words. Per the theme of the day or word lengths, the number can differ.
- If you are lucky enough to find two or more themed words, it can lead you to an undercover stream of letters. This sequence usually indicates another themed word, with clues lying in the placement of specific letters that start or end the word. Recognizing common word endings may make you finish the phrase/word/term effortlessly.
- Need a breather? Strands game NYT comes with the flexibility to let players take a relaxing break and pick up their game exactly where they left off without losing progress. Also, solvers are allowed multiple log-ins throughout the day.
- To beat the Strands, understand the Spangram – the puzzle’s central element that is highlighted in yellow once solved. It is the key word that describes every day’s puzzle theme and ties all the other words (top-bottom or side-to-side).
How to play New NYT Game Strands?
- Strands NYT game proposes sole gameplay where each player is guided to find words or phrases (related to a given theme) hidden within a 6×8 grid of 48 letters. Each solution word and the total number of words to be found are provided at the start.
- To begin, join neighboring letters either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. As soon as you find the theme word, it will be highlighted in blue.
- Participants are allowed to group unselected letters to create words, but only words with more than 03 letters from the dictionary will be accepted.
- Unable to find more theme words? The trick is to start filling in the hint bar by searching for non-themed words. For THREE non-relevant words, you receive ONE hint. Once you click the “Hint” button, the letters will be traced in blue. You will find all the circled letters in the anagram; all you will need to do is arrange them accurately.
- By using hints and your problem-solving powers, keep finding themed words, narrowing the puzzle down to the Spangram that spans the entire puzzle. For instance, if theme words like APPLE, BERRY, and MANGO are present, the Spangram in Strands game NYT might be FRUIT.
- After the level completion, the window will show you the final scores per your performance, the letters being highlighted in blue (themed words) or yellow (spangram), a lightbulb for each hint used, and your guesses.
- Additionally, the game has a sharing button that encourages the players to show their results to competitors, injecting a competitive edge.
Here’s the lowdown on the NYT Strands game! That being said, share your thoughts in the comment section below.
