Strands Puzzle Insights for April 8, 2025: “Out of This World”
Seeking guidance and solutions for the Strands puzzle dated April 8, 2025? Continue reading for insightful clues and tips, culminating in the resolution of today’s theme, “Out of this world.”
For a convenient way to revisit these hints daily, bookmark this page here. Previously shared hints can also be found at this link, allowing you to catch up on any puzzles you may have missed.
Below, you’ll discover some subtle hints regarding today’s Strands answers. If you scroll further down, the spangram and complete answers await. Take your time and only grab the hints you truly need!
Clue for Today’s Spangram
A category commonly featuring spaceships, extraterrestrial beings, and futuristic weapons.
Clue for Theme Words
A blend of contemporary and classic films from this sector.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
The solutions for today’s Strands puzzle are about to be disclosed.
What is Today’s Spangram?
Today’s spangram is SCIENCEFICTION.
What Are Today’s Theme Words?
The theme words for today include: GRAVITY, ARRIVAL, MEGALOPOLIS, DUNE, ALIEN.
Below is an image of the board once the puzzle is fully solved:
Approach to the Current Strands
Instinct suggests that today’s puzzle contains elements relating to celestial themes and other concepts beyond our planet.
Observing “TION” at the upper right, it appeared to indicate a word’s conclusion. Soon, the presence of FICTION became evident, forming the spangram: SCIENCEFICTION. 🟡
GRAVITY appears above the spangram. 🔵 Does this relate solely to science fiction films?
Indeed, ARRIVAL (a personal favorite) is located above GRAVITY. 🔵
MEGALOPOLIS sits in the bottom left corner. 🔵 (Reportedly a poorly received film.)
ALIEN is found in the bottom right corner. 🔵
Lastly, we have DUNE. 🔵
Strands #401 “Out of this world” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵
Understanding How to Play Strands
The Strands game is available on the New York Times website and within the NYT Games application.
Upon starting, you’ll encounter a game board filled with various letters accompanied by a clue that hints at the theme—often presented as a phrase like “Better with age.” Your objective is to unearth the concealed words that connect to the theme displayed.
A Blend of Crossword and Word Search
The primary word to locate is the “spangram,” which clearly communicates the puzzle’s theme (for instance, the spangram for the theme “Better with age” is FERMENTED, pointing towards items that indeed improve with age). This word will stretch across the entire board, either horizontally or vertically. Once identified, it will be highlighted yellow, making the remaining puzzle significantly easier to solve.
In Strands, words can extend in all directions (up, down, left, right, and diagonally), and each letter is used only once. There’s a sole correct answer for each puzzle. When one successfully pinpoints a word in the puzzle (such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), that word will light up in blue.
If solving proves challenging, you can submit any non-theme words of four letters or longer for a chance to earn a hint. Submitting three such words will unlock the “Hint” feature. Clicking it will illuminate the letters in one of the theme words. However, those letters need to be strung in the correct order to finalize the theme word. If a hint exists already, employing another hint will reveal the letter arrangement for that word.
Winning Strands
Unlike similar games like Connections and Wordle, Strands does not have a failure condition. When guesses are submitted, you’ll either identify a correct answer, earn hint credits, or see the input shake—indicating that the word is either invalid or too short. There’s no limit to the number of guesses.
The game concludes successfully when all letters on the board have been utilized, signifying the identification of both the spangram and all theme words. Similar to other NYT games, a summary card displaying your daily performance will appear upon completion: blue dots 🔵 represent theme words found, the yellow dot 🟡 signifies when the spangram was discovered, and a lightbulb 💡 denotes words that were hinted at.
