If you’re on the hunt for clues and solutions to the Strands puzzle for Tuesday, February 11, 2025, you’re in the right place! This puzzle revolves around the theme “Attention all shoppers.” Below, insights, suggestions, and the final answers will be provided to guide you in cracking the code.

For a convenient way to revisit our hints daily, bookmark this link. This page also features previous hints for those curious about earlier puzzles.

Throughout this post, subtle hints toward today’s Strands answers will be shared. Be sure to scroll carefully, taking only the clues you need!

Hint for Today’s Spangram

Think of retail giants like Target and Walmart—they’re prime examples of this type of establishment.

Hints for the Theme Words

Consider the various sections that can typically be found within such stores.

Caution: Spoilers Ahead!

What follows are the answers to today’s Strands puzzle.

What is Today’s Spangram?

The spangram for today is BIGBOX.

What are Today’s Theme Words?

The theme words are: BEAUTY, HOME, GARDEN, BATH, ELECTRONICS, KITCHEN, and TOYS.

Here’s the visual representation of the board once the puzzle is completed:

Solving Today’s Strands

The theme is intriguing—it centers around big box stores. The phrase “Attention all shoppers” is a common announcement at places like Walmart, often made when they’re closing up.

Surprisingly, the spangram is BIGBOX. 🟡

BEAUTY is located in the top left corner; it’s a definite hit. 🔵 The section labeled HOME is right beneath it. 🔵

To the right of HOME is BATH. 🔵 GARDEN wraps up the top half of the puzzle. 🔵 KITCHEN can be found in the bottom right. 🔵 ELECTRONICS makes a curve along the lower section of the board. 🔵 Lastly, TOYS completes the set. 🔵

Strands #345
“"Attention all shoppers"”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Playing Strands

The Strands game is available through the New York Times website and the NYT Games app.

Upon starting the game, a board filled with various letters will be displayed alongside a clue hinting at the theme, presented as a phrase—an example could be “Better with age.” The task is to uncover hidden words correlating to this theme within the board.

A Blend of Crossword and Word Search

The key word to find is the “spangram,” a term that more clearly encapsulates the theme of the puzzle. (For instance, in the puzzle themed “Better with age,” the spangram is FERMENTED, representing items that indeed improve with time.) This spangram will span the board either horizontally or vertically, which is how it gets its name. Once identified, the spangram will be marked in yellow, facilitating the rest of the puzzle’s completion.

In Strands, words can be oriented in multiple directions (up, down, left, right, and diagonally), and each letter can only be utilized once. There is exclusively one confirmed solution. When a word such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI is correctly found, it gets highlighted in blue.

If challenges arise while solving the puzzle, any non-theme words that consist of four letters or more can be submitted for credit toward a hint. Submitting three non-theme words will enable the “Hint” button, which, when activated, will highlight all letters in one of the theme words, though you will still need to connect these letters in the precise sequence to form that word. Should there be an existing hint on the board, using another hint before solving that word will reveal the order of its letters.

Winning at Strands

Unlike other games such as Connections or Wordle, Strands is designed so that one cannot lose. Submitting guesses will either yield a correct identification of an answer, provide credit toward a hint, or cause the text to shake, indicating that the word submitted is either too short or invalid. There is no limitation on guesses, nor is there a time constraint.

Succeeding in Strands means successfully employing all letters on the board, identifying both the spangram and all theme words. As is customary with NYT games, once the puzzle is completed, a shareable card will display your performance, with blue dots 🔵 representing theme words identified, a yellow dot 🟡 for the spangram found, and a lightbulb 💡 indicating words that received a hint.