Strands Puzzle Insights for March 17, 2025
Explore valuable hints and solutions for today’s Strands puzzle, themed “Sound Switching.”
If you wish to revisit today’s Strands hints effortlessly, consider bookmarking this page. It also serves as a repository for past hints, should you desire to catch up on any missed games.
Crafted below are subtle hints to aid your journey in decoding today’s Strands answers. As you proceed further, the spangram and official answers will be unveiled. Approach carefully, and utilize only the hints you truly need!
Clue for Today’s Spangram
A term that illustrates a comedic slip of the tongue, where the initial sounds of words are exchanged within a brief phrase. For instance, saying “Three cheers for our queer old dean” instead of “dear old queen.” If clarification is needed, consult this Wikipedia page.
Clue for Today’s Theme Words
Pairs of words that are classic instances of the speech mistake highlighted in the spangram.
Caution: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Strands Puzzle!
Prepare for the truths of today’s Strands puzzle to be disclosed.
What’s Today’s Spangram?
The spangram for today is: SPOONERISMS.
What Are the Theme Words for Today?
The theme words selected today are: STRICKEN, CHIPS, BLUSHING, CROW, BEDDING, and WELLS.
An illustration of the completed board follows:
Insights on Solving Today’s Strands
The assumption is that today’s puzzle may revolve around themes related to sound or musical terminology; however, certainty remains elusive.
Words like STING and CROWS are not associated with the theme.
SPOON and SPOONS are not theme words either—though, notably, SPOONERISMS stands out as the spangram! 🟡 A spoonerism emerges when someone inadvertently swaps the leading sounds of two words, such as “belly jeans” instead of “jelly beans.”
Thus, CROW (as opposed to CROWS) aligns with the theme due to the common idiomatic mix-up “blushing crow” in place of “crushing blow.” 🔵
Words like SPILL, CHEW, and SLIP are merely incidental to the theme.
WELLS qualifies as a theme word, correlating to associate with “bedding wells” in place of “wedding bells.” 🔵
Furthermore, BEDDING located in the board’s upper left quadrant is also pertinent. 🔵 It indicates pairs of words.
What’s your take on today’s game?
The term BLUSHING is positioned in the upper right section, complementing the earlier mentioned CROW. 🔵
Additionally, STRICKEN 🔵 and CHIPS 🔵 (incorrectly stated as “chicken strips”) round out the theme words.
Strands #379 “Sound Switching” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵
Playing Strands
The Strands game can be accessed via the New York Times website or the NYT Games app.
Upon beginning, a board populated with various letters appears alongside a hint indicating the game’s theme—likely a phrase such as “Better with age.” Your goal is to uncover the hidden words within the board related to this theme.
A Unique Blend of Crossword and Word Search
The primary objective is to locate the “spangram,” a word that more directly articulates the puzzle theme. For instance, in a puzzle themed “Better with age,” the spangram would be FERMENTED, associated with items that indeed improve over time. The spangram stretches across the entire board, either horizontally or vertically, which results in its designation. Once found, it will be highlighted in yellow, often simplifying the remainder of the puzzle.
In Strands, words can traverse in all directions (up, down, left, right, and diagonally), with each letter being used only once. There exists a singular correct solution. When you identify one of the puzzle’s words, such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI, it will be marked in blue.
If difficulty arises while solving, submitting any non-theme words of four letters or more can earn hints. Upon submitting three non-theme words, the “Hint” button activates; clicking it highlights all the letters of one theme word. The placement of the highlighted letters must still align correctly to form a complete theme word. If a hint already exists on the board and another hint is utilized before solving, the order of that particular word’s letters will be unveiled.
Winning Strands
Strands differs from Connections and Wordle in that it presents no risk of failure. Submitting guesses allows for either correct identifications, hints accumulations, or a visual shake indicating that the word submitted is unrecognized or too brief. There’s no limit on guesses, nor is there a ticking clock.
Victory is realized when all letters on the board are correctly utilized, confirming the identification of the spangram and all theme words. As with other NYT games, a shareable card detailing your performance of the day will appear upon success: blue dots 🔵 denote the theme words discovered, the yellow dot 🟡 marks the spangram identified, and a lightbulb 💡 indicates words that came from hints.
