Hints and Solutions for the Strands Puzzle on April 7, 2025
Are you in search of clues and answers for the Strands puzzle on April 7, 2025? Keep reading for helpful hints, advice, and ultimately the solutions surrounding the theme “Half-and-half.”
For easy access to our daily Strands tips, bookmark this page. Previous hints are also available here, should you want to catch up on any past puzzles you may have missed.
Here, you will find some subtle hints related to today’s answers, followed by a disclosure of the spangram and solutions further down. Take your time and gather only the clues you find necessary!
Clue for the Spangram of Today’s Strands Puzzle
This term refers to a type of mythical creature that is a combination of two distinct animals. (The first word often describes living beings that are hybrids of existing species.)
Clue for the Theme Words of Today’s Strands Puzzle
Look for examples of mythical creature combinations—draw inspiration from Greek mythology and fantasy literature like Harry Potter.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Strands Puzzle!
The answers to today’s Strands puzzle are about to be revealed.
What is the Spangram for Today’s Strands?
Today’s spangram is HYBRIDCREATURE.
What are the Theme Words for Today’s Strands?
Today’s theme words include: MERMAN, JACKALOPE, SATYR, CENTAUR, GRIFFIN.
Below is the completed puzzle board:
Thought Process Behind Today’s Strands Solution
The phrase “half-and-half” brings to mind cream commonly served with coffee, but it can also refer to the division of items or assets.
Words such as CEDAR, POLKA, FAIR, FAIRER, TARIFF (oops), and JACKAL are examples of non-theme words.
Yet, JACKALOPE fits the theme! 🔵 So, we are likely dealing with combinations of animals? (This specific one is a jackrabbit with antelope antlers.)
The spangram reveals itself: HYBRIDCREATURE. 🟡
MERMAN is positioned above JACKALOPE. 🔵 (A mix of a human and a fish.)
SATYR resides in the top-right area. 🔵 (A combination of a human and a goat.)
CENTAUR is located beneath SATYR. 🔵 (A mix of a human and a horse.)
Finally, GRIFFIN rounds out the group. 🔵 (A blend of a lion and an eagle.)
Strands #400 “Half-and-half” 🔵🟡🔵🔵 🔵🔵
How to Engage with Strands
The Strands game can be accessed via the New York Times website and the NYT Games app.
Upon beginning, you’ll see a game tile filled with various letters and a clue indicating the board’s overarching theme—this could be a phrase like “Better with age.” Your task is to identify the concealed words that correspond to the theme.
A Nosier Cross of Crossword and Word Search
The key word to uncover is the “spangram,” which more explicitly conveys the theme of the puzzle. (For instance, in the puzzle with the theme “Better with age,” the spangram is FERMENTED, implying that some products improve over time.) The spangram spans the entire game board, horizontally or vertically. Upon its discovery, it will be highlighted in yellow, often aiding in the completion of the puzzle.
In Strands, words can be arranged in any direction (upwards, downwards, sideways, or diagonally), and each letter can be used only once. There exists one correct resolution. Identifying a word correctly (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI) will mark it in blue.
For those facing challenges with the puzzle, submitting any non-theme words of four letters or more can earn points towards a hint. By providing three non-theme words, the “Hint” button activates, allowing one letter from a theme word to be highlighted. That said, the highlighted letters need to be pieced together correctly to form a valid word. If there’s already a hint on the board and another hint is used prior to finding that word, its sequence will be revealed.
Winning at Strands
Unlike games such as Connections and Wordle, failure in Strands is not an option. Submissions will either yield a success, generate hint credits, or cause the text to shake, indicating an invalid or too-short entry. There’s no cap on guesses, nor is there a time constraint.
A win occurs when every letter on the board has been utilized, indicating the discovery of both the spangram and all theme words. Similar to other NYT games, once the puzzle is solved, a shareable card displays your performance for the day: blue dots 🔵 denote the theme words identified, the yellow dot 🟡 indicates the spangram’s discovery, and a lightbulb 💡 signifies words obtained through hints.
