Strands Hints for April 19, 2025: Unveiling the Puzzle
If you’re on the hunt for guidance regarding the Strands puzzle for April 19, 2025, you’re in the right place! This post will provide you with subtle clues and strategic insights, culminating in the final solution for the theme “___ a ___.”
To easily revisit these hints each day, consider bookmarking this page. You can also explore previous clues here if you’re curious about earlier puzzles.
Below, concise hints will lead you toward today’s Strands answers, and further down, the spangram and full solutions will be disclosed. Take your time scrolling, and feel free to grab just the hints you need!
Clue for Today’s Spangram
A two-word expression you might yell after outsmarting someone, perhaps in a game of Mario Kart. (The initial word is a verb that means “to snatch” or “to take.” It serves as the first part of today’s theme phrase.)
Clue for the Theme Words
If intending to capture an image of yourself, you might say you will “___ a ___.” What other suitable words might fill in that last blank?
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Strands Puzzle!
The answers for today’s Strands puzzle are about to be revealed.
What is the Spangram for Today?
The spangram for today’s challenge is TAKETHAT.
What Are the Theme Words Today?
The theme words consist of: SELFIE, GANDER, HIKE, BREATHER, HINT, CHANCE, NUMBER.
Here’s how the completed board appears:
Strategy for Today’s Strands
It seems likely that in today’s puzzle, each theme word pairs with another; for instance, “take” might connect with “seat” to form the expression “take a seat.” Let’s investigate.
Indeed, I located TAKE and SEAT; however, they do not match the theme.
Other words found include BATH, BATHE, TALK, READ, BRAT, GREAT, and FILE, which do not belong to the theme.
However, HIKE is part of it! 🔵 Aha, that could combine with “take a HIKE.” Possibly, all the theme words relate to actions that can be “taken”?
I’ve got it: the spangram is TAKETHAT. 🟡 Quite clever, indeed!
SELFIE appears in the upper left corner. 🔵
Meanwhile, GANDER is positioned in the bottom left corner. 🔵
Although BREATH isn’t a theme word, BREATHER is! 🔵
NUMBER resides at the bottom right. 🔵
CHANCE is situated above NUMBER. 🔵
Finally, we have HINT. 🔵
Strands #410 “___ a ___” 🔵🟡🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵
Playing Strands
The Strands game can be accessed on the New York Times website and through the NYT Games app.
Upon starting, you’ll notice a game board filled with a variety of letters, accompanied by a clue indicating the theme—this will usually be a phrase, such as “Better with age.” Your challenge is to discover the hidden words that align with the puzzle’s theme.
A Blend of Crossword and Word Search
The most crucial word to find is the “spangram,” which clearly articulates the puzzle’s theme. For instance, the spangram for “Better with age” is FERMENTED, referring to items that indeed improve with time. This spangram will stretch across the entire board, either horizontally or vertically. Once identified, it will be highlighted in yellow, simplifying the completion of the rest of the puzzle.
In Strands, words may be arranged in any direction (up, down, left, right, or diagonally), but each letter can only be used once. Only one correct solution exists. When a word is correctly identified, it will be highlighted in blue.
Should the puzzle prove difficult, you can enter any non-theme words you spot (as long as they consist of four letters or more) to earn a hint. Submitting three non-theme words allows you to click the “Hint” button, which will highlight letters in one of the theme words. You will then need to sequence these highlighted letters properly to form that word. If an additional hint is used on an already highlighted word, that word’s letter arrangement will also be revealed.
Winning Strands
Unlike other games like Connections and Wordle, Strands has no failure mode. When submitting guesses, you will either correctly identify a word, earn credit for a hint, or the input will shake, signaling an invalid submission or one that is too short. There’s no limit on guesses, nor is there a time constraint.
Victory comes when all letters on the board are accounted for, meaning you’ve successfully found the spangram and all theme words. As with other NYT games, upon resolution of the puzzle, a shareable card will display your performance: blue dots 🔵 signify words you’ve found, the yellow dot 🟡 indicates the spangram identified, and a lightbulb 💡 shows words you received hints for.
