Hints and Solutions for Strands: February 1, 2025
If you’re seeking clues and answers for the Strands puzzle dated February 1, 2025, you’ve come to the right place. Here, insights and strategies will be shared, culminating in the revealed solution themed around “Hunt and peck.”
To conveniently revisit our Strands tips daily, save this page as a bookmark. You can also explore previous hints available there if you wish to catch up on earlier puzzles.
What follows are subtle hints regarding today’s Strands puzzle. As you continue to scroll, deeper insights, including the spangram and answers, will be unveiled. Take your time, and only grab hints as you find necessary!
Clue for Today’s Spangram
A general term referring to birds that hunt other animals.
Clue for the Theme Words
Instances of predatory birds. Large talons, feed on mice, and so forth.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
The answers to the Strands puzzle will be disclosed shortly.
What is the day’s spangram?
The spangram for today is RAPTORS.
What are the theme words for today?
The theme words featured today are: VULTURE, EAGLE, OSPREY, HAWK, FALCON, KESTREL, CONDOR.
Below is a glimpse of the completed board once the puzzle is finished:
Approach to Solving Today’s Strands
The phrase “Hunt and peck” often describes typing with just index fingers; however, it can also refer to the behavior of birds. Is it reminiscent of the word grazing, or is that just a different concept?
VULTURE appears in the top row and moves diagonally. 🔵 It seems we’re delving into the avian world.
EAGLE is located in the upper right corner. 🔵
OSPREY is situated directly beneath EAGLE. 🔵
HAWK is positioned below OSPREY. 🔵
At the bottom of these words lies the spangram: RAPTORS. 🟡
FALCON is placed along the edge of the spangram. 🔵
KESTREL is situated along the left side. 🔵
Finally, CONDOR completes the list. 🔵
Strands #335 “Hunt and peck” 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🟡🔵🔵🔵
Guide to Playing Strands
The Strands game can be found on the New York Times website and within the NYT Games application.
Upon starting a game, players will be presented with a grid of letters, accompanied by a clue hinting at the overall theme—this could be a phrase such as “Better with age.” The objective is to discover hidden words that reflect the designated theme within the grid.
A fusion of crossword and word search
The primary word to uncover is the “spangram,” which succinctly encapsulates the theme of the puzzle. (For example, the spangram for “Better with age” is FERMENTED, referring to items that improve as time goes on.) The spangram will span the entire board, either horizontally or vertically (hence the term). Once the spangram is identified, it will be highlighted in yellow, simplifying the remainder of the puzzle.
In Strands, words can appear in various directions (upward, downward, horizontally, or diagonally), with each letter used only once. There is a singular correct answer. When a player identifies a word from the puzzle (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If challenges arise while solving, players can submit any non-theme words they recognize (as long as they contain four letters or more) for hint credits. Once three non-theme words are submitted, the “Hint” button becomes accessible; clicking it will highlight the letters of one theme word. Players must still arrange these highlighted letters correctly to form a theme word. If a hint is already present, using another hint will reveal the letter order of that specific word.
Winning Strategies for Strands
Unlike other games such as Connections or Wordle, failure is not an option in Strands. When guesses are submitted, the outcome will either confirm a correct answer, grant credit towards a hint, or produce a shaking animation indicating the guess is invalid or too short. There is no limit to the number of guesses, and no timer to contend with.
Victory is achieved once all letters have been utilized, signifying the identification of both the spangram and all theme words. Similar to other NYT games, after completing the puzzle, a shareable card displays your performance for the day: blue dots 🔵 represent theme words found, the yellow dot 🟡 signifies the spangram discovery, and the lightbulb 💡 denotes words that were hinted at.
