Puzzle Insights for the Strands Game – January 24, 2025
If you’re in search of clues and solutions for today’s edition of Strands, stay tuned. Insights and strategies will be shared, culminating with the answer to the puzzle centered around the theme of “Get smart.”
For easy access to our daily hints each time you play, be sure to bookmark this page. Here, you can also find previous hints, allowing you to catch up on solutions you may have missed.
Below you’ll find a few indirect clues regarding today’s Strands answers. Further down the page, the spangram and full answers will be disclosed. Take your time as you scroll through this guide and only grab the hints that resonate with you!
Spangram Hint for Today’s Puzzle
Consider two terms that might escape your lips when someone presents an innovative solution.
Clue for the Thematic Words
Think of terms that are synonymous with “smart.”
WARNING: The Answers for Today’s Puzzle Ahead!
Now, the solutions for today’s Strands puzzle are about to be revealed.
Today’s Spangram
Today’s spangram is THATSGENIUS.
Identify the Thematic Words
The words reflecting the theme today are: INTELLIGENT, BRIGHT, CLEVER, BRILLIANT, QUICK.
This is how the completed board appears:
Approach to Today’s Strands
The first thoughts that come to mind involve methods for enhancing intelligence, such as reading and studying. So, let’s dive in.
The word QUICK can be found in the lower-right corner, and it’s a match. 🔵 That’s a synonym for being smart or astute.
The term INTELLIGENT appears in the upper-left corner. 🔵
CLEVER can be located in the bottom left corner. 🔵
GENIUS shows up in the middle area of the puzzle without hitting the mark, suggesting it’s part of the spangram. Therefore, that brings us to: THATSGENIUS. 🟡
The word BRIGHT finalizes the bottom section. 🔵
Lastly, BRILLIANT rounds out the set. 🔵
Strands #327 “Get smart” 🔵🔵🔵🟡 🔵🔵
Engaging with Strands
The Strands game can be accessed through the New York Times website or the NYT Games app.
Upon starting the game, you’ll encounter a board filled with letters, coupled with a hint indicating the theme—a phrase such as “Better with age.” Your task is to discover the concealed words that align with the specified theme.
A Hybrid of Crossword and Word Search
The spangram is the crucial word to locate, as it directly articulates the puzzle’s theme. (For instance, if the theme is “Better with age,” the spangram would be FERMENTED, illustrating products that improve over time.) The spangram will stretch across the entire board, either horizontally or vertically. Once identified, it will be highlighted in yellow, simplifying the rest of the puzzle-solving process.
In Strands, words can be arranged in any direction (whether up, down, sideways, or diagonally), with letters used only once. There is a single correct solution. When a word such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI is correctly identified, it will be marked in blue.
If difficulty arises in solving the puzzle, any non-theme words consisting of four letters or more can be submitted to earn a single hint. By submitting three non-theme words, the “Hint” button becomes active; clicking it will highlight all letters of one theme word for you. However, linking these highlighted letters must be done in the correct order to formulate one of the theme words. Should there already be a hint on the board, using another hint before solving that word will reveal the arrangement of its letters.
Winning Strands
Unlike other games such as Connections or Wordle, failing in Strands is not an option. When guessing, responses will either confirm the correct answer, grant hint credits, or produce a shaking motion, indicating the word you submitted is either too brief or invalid. There are unlimited guesses, and no time constraints.
The completion is marked by successfully utilizing all letters of the board, confirming both the spangram and all theme words have been identified. Like other NYT games, upon solving, a shareable card will display your performance for the day: blue dots 🔵 signify the theme words you discovered, the yellow dot 🟡 represents the spangram located, and a lightbulb 💡 denotes words for which you received hints.
