Strands Puzzle Clues for March 26, 2025: Circle of Life Insights
If you are on the hunt for guidance and solutions for the Strands puzzle on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, you’ve come to the right place. This post will provide insightful clues, strategic advice, and ultimately, the final answers centered around the intriguing theme of “In the Circle of Life.”
To easily return to this page for daily Strands hints, consider bookmarking this link. This resource also contains past clues, allowing you to catch up on any puzzles you may have missed.
Below, you’ll discover some subtle hints related to today’s Strands answers. Keep scrolling to find the spangram and the full answers, taking only the information you need along the way!
Clue for the Spangram in Today’s Strands Puzzle
Think about the well-known animated Disney feature that comes to mind with the puzzle’s theme.
Clue for the Theme Words in Today’s Strands Puzzle
Focus on the creatures prominently showcased in the memorable song related to the puzzle’s theme.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Strands Puzzle!
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle will be disclosed shortly.
What is the Spangram for Today’s Strands?
The featured spangram today is LIONKING.
What are the Theme Words for Today’s Strands?
Today’s theme words include: WARTHOG, ELEPHANT, ZEBRA, HYENA, MEERKAT, HORNBILL.
Here’s what the completed puzzle board looks like:
Decoding Today’s Strands
The moment the theme was revealed, thoughts of the iconic song from The Lion King sprang to mind. Lo and behold, the spangram is LIONKING. 🟡
WARTHOG appears in the upper left section. 🔵 This points to a focus on animals from the film.
ELEPHANT is found in the upper right section. 🔵
ZEBRA takes its place in the lower left section. 🔵
MEERKAT is located in the bottom right section. 🔵
HORNBILL is positioned above MEERKAT. 🔵
The final one, HYENA, completes the list. 🔵
Strands #388 “In the circle of life” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵
Guide to Playing Strands
The Strands game can be accessed on the New York Times website or within the NYT Games app.
When engaging with the game, an assortment of letters will fill the board, accompanied by a clue hinting at the overarching theme—a phrase such as “Better with age.” Your objective is to identify the hidden words on the board that correspond to this theme.
Crossword Meets Word Search
The primary word to locate is the “spangram,” which more directly articulates the theme of the puzzle. For instance, in the example “Better with age,” the spangram would be FERMENTED, explaining products that truly become better with time. This spangram spans the entire game board, either horizontally or vertically, which is how it got its name. Recognizing the spangram usually simplifies the remaining challenges.
In Strands, words can be oriented in any direction—upwards, downwards, horizontally, or diagonally, and each letter is utilized once only. There is one correct answer. When a puzzle word (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI) is correctly found, it is highlighted in blue.
If you encounter difficulties while solving the puzzle, any non-theme words with four letters or more can be submitted for a hint. Providing three such words makes the “Hint” button clickable. Clicking this will reveal the letters of one of the theme words. You must then correctly connect these highlighted letters in the correct order to unveil a theme word. Should a hint already exist, using an additional hint before solving that word will uncover the letter order for that word.
Winning Strands
Unlike other games such as Connections or Wordle, failing in Strands is not an option. Submitting guesses will either yield a correct answer, grant hint credits, or cause the text to shake, indicating an invalid or too short submission. There are no limitations on guesses, and there’s no ticking clock.
A victory is achieved when all letters on the board have been appropriately utilized, meaning the player has identified both the spangram and all theme words. As is customary with other NYT games, succeeding in the puzzle results in a shareable card showcasing daily performance: blue dots 🔵 represent found theme words, a yellow dot 🟡 indicates the discovery of the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 signifies words received through hints.
