For those in search of guidance and solutions for the Strands puzzle dated March 3, 2025, keep reading. This post will provide helpful hints, insights, and ultimately, the answer to the puzzle themed “A fungus among us.”

To conveniently access daily hints for Strands, consider bookmarking this page. You can also browse through previous hints if you wish to catch up on any missed challenges.

Below, you will find indirect clues for today’s Strands solutions, and further down, the spangram along with the answers will be shared. Take your time as you scroll and only grab the hints that you find useful!

Clue for Today’s Spangram

If you order a pizza topped with “funghi,” you’re selecting this food item to enhance your meal.

Clue for Theme Words

These are specific types of edible fungi that you might discover either in a grocery store or while foraging in the woods if you’re seasoned at it.

CAUTION: Spoilers Ahead!

The solutions for today’s Strands challenge will be revealed now.

What is today’s spangram?

The spangram for today is MUSHROOMS.

What are the theme words for today?

The theme words include: SHIITAKE, CREMINI, ENOKI, TRUFFLE, BUTTON, OYSTER.

Here’s how the board appears once the puzzle is solved:

Solving Today’s Strands

The focus today seems to be on various mushrooms.

The word CREMINI occupies the center of the board. 🔵

SHIITAKE can be spotted in the upper left. 🔵

The spangram, MUSHROOMS, runs its course through the middle. 🟡

ENOKI is located in the bottom left area. 🔵

TRUFFLE appears in the top right. 🔵

BUTTON is positioned just below TRUFFLE. 🔵

Finally, OYSTER is also present. 🔵

Strands #365
“A fungus among us”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵

Playing Strands

You can access the Strands game via the New York Times website or through the NYT Games app.

Upon starting the game, you’ll be greeted by a board filled with letters alongside a clue that hints at the theme—this clue will typically be a phrase. Your task is to identify the hidden words that align with the puzzle’s theme.

A Unique Puzzle Experience

The key word to discover is the “spangram,” which illustrates the theme in a more direct manner. For instance, if the theme is “Better with age,” the spangram is FERMENTED, indicating items that indeed improve over time. The spangram runs across the entire board, either horizontally or vertically, and highlights in yellow upon discovery. Recognizing this word usually simplifies the remainder of the puzzle.

In Strands, words may extend in any direction (up, down, sideways, or diagonally), utilizing each letter only once. There’s only one viable solution for each puzzle. Upon successfully identifying a word in the puzzle (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will glow in blue.

If you’re having difficulty, you can enter any non-theme words of four letters or more to accumulate credits toward a hint. Submit three such words and the “Hint” button becomes active; clicking it will highlight a letter from one of the theme words. You will still need to connect the highlighted letters in the correct order to form one of those words. If a hint is already present and you use another before decoding that specific word, its letter order will be disclosed.

Winning at Strands

Unlike games such as Connections and Wordle, Strands doesn’t allow for failure. When guesses are submitted, they will either correctly identify a word, contribute to a hint, or prompt a shake, indicating the submission is either too short or invalid. There’s no risk of running out of guesses, and time constraints do not apply.

A win occurs when you successfully recognize all letters on the board, confirming the spangram and all theme words. After completing the puzzle, you’ll receive a shareable card indicating your daily performance: blue dots 🔵 showcase the theme words you found, the yellow dot 🟡 signifies when you identified the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 indicates words that were highlighted due to a hint.