Unlocking the Strands Puzzle for April 5, 2025: “In it to Win It”
Need clues and solutions for Strands on April 5, 2025? Here’s a guide filled with tips and insights to tackle the puzzle themed “In it to win it.”
For effortless daily access to our hints, bookmark this link. Past hints are also available there if you’re curious about previous puzzles.
This post provides indirect hints about today’s Strands answers, with the complete spangram and solutions revealed later. Take your time and gather only the suggestions you need!
Hint for Today’s Spangram
An all-encompassing term for individuals (or occurrences) that transform the dynamics of conflict and defy expectations.
Hint for Theme Words
Unexpected moments in sports that culminate in thrilling, victorious, or surprising comebacks.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
Proceed if you’re ready to discover the answers for today’s Strands puzzle.
Spangram for Today’s Puzzle
The spangram today is GAMECHANGERS.
Theme Words for Today’s Puzzle
The identified theme words are: COMEBACK, UPSET, RALLY, THREEPEAT, ROUT, SWEEP.
Here is what the completed puzzle board looks like:
Approach to Solving Today’s Strands
The theme is somewhat ambiguous but hints towards sports or competitions, suggesting a connection to related terminology.
Notable non-theme words include BACKUP, THREE, TEACH, WORSE, STAR, CHANGE, PERUSE, and HATE.
Initially, GAME appeared, though not a thematic word, it forms GAMECHANGERS, the spangram. 🟡
The term BACKUP actually represents COMEBACK. 🔵
UPSET lies adjacent to COMEBACK. 🔵 Clearly, these relate to underdog victories.
RALLY can be found in the upper corner. 🔵
THREEPEAT, referring to achieving victory thrice consecutively, is located in the lower left. 🔵
ROUT is nearby THREEPEAT. 🔵
Finally, SWEEP appears as well. 🔵
Strands #398 “In it to win it” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵
How to Engage with Strands
Access the Strands game via the New York Times website or the NYT Games app.
Upon starting, a game board filled with letters appears alongside a thematic clue—usually a phrase indicating the theme, such as “Better with age.” Your task is to uncover the hidden words that fit the provided theme.
A Blend of Crossword and Word Search
The pivotal word to locate is the “spangram,” which clarifies the theme more effectively. (For instance, in the puzzle featuring the theme “Better with age,” the spangram is FERMENTED, reflecting items that indeed improve over time.) This word stretches fully across the board, either horizontally or vertically. When identified, it will be highlighted in yellow, simplifying the completion of the remaining puzzle.
In Strands, words may traverse in any direction (up, down, sideways, and diagonally), and each letter can be used only once. There exists a singular correct solution. Successfully identifying a word (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI) highlights it in blue.
If challenges arise while solving, you may submit any non-theme words of four letters or more to gain credit toward a hint. Submitting three non-theme words enables the “Hint” button for use; clicking it will highlight one of the letters from a theme word. However, linking these highlighted letters in the correct sequence remains essential. If there’s a hint in play and you attempt another before solving, the letter order for that word will be disclosed.
Winning Strands
Unlike games like Connections and Wordle, Strands grants unlimited chances. Each submission gives a correct answer, earns hint credit, or indicates an invalid or too-short word with a shaking motion. There’s no restriction on guesses or a time constraint.
Victory is achieved when all board letters have been utilized correctly, signifying both the identification of the spangram and all theme words. As with other NYT games, once solved, a shareable card appears showing daily performance: blue dots 🔵 represent the theme words unearthed, the yellow dot 🟡 marks the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 indicates words that received hints.
