For easy access to our daily Strands hints, bookmark this page. You’ll also find previous hints there if you’re curious about what may have slipped past you in earlier puzzles.

Prepare to receive some indirect hints for today’s Strands solutions. Further down the page, the answers and spangram will be revealed, so scroll carefully and take just what you need!

Clue for Today’s Spangram

Think of two terms that capture the iconic moving text that plays at the beginning of each Star Wars film.

Clue for the Theme Words

Important terms derived from the introductory text and overarching narrative of A New Hope (Episode IV).

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

The answers for today’s Strands puzzle will be disclosed now.

Today’s Spangram

The spangram for this edition is OPENINGCRAWL.

Theme Words for Today

The uncovering words are: LONG, TIME, GALAXY, SPACE, PLANET, EMPIRE, REBEL.

Here’s how the completed puzzle appears:

Credit: Strands/NYT

Solving Today’s Strands Puzzle

Being Star Wars Day, it’s the perfect opportunity to search for Star Wars related words.

Initially spotted: LEIA, but it wasn’t successful. The same goes for ALIEN.

Found in the bottom row was SPACE—my first theme word. 🔵

Positioned in the bottom left is GALAXY. 🔵

Adjacent to GALAXY is TIME. 🔵 (This ties back to “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”)

Indeed, LONG appears right above TIME. 🔵

The spangram follows the trend, cascading along the discovered words: OPENINGCRAWL. 🟡 (Denotes the famous introductory text that sets the stage for the narrative.)

In the upper right corner, EMPIRE is found. 🔵

PLANET runs along the top edge. 🔵

Lastly, the word REBEL is located as well. 🔵

Strands #427
“Star Wars: A New Hope”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Guidelines for Playing Strands

The Strands game can be played via the New York Times website or within the NYT Games app.

Upon starting, a game board filled with letters will be displayed alongside a clue hinting at its theme—typically a phrase such as “Better with age.” Your objective is to locate hidden words that align with that theme within the letters present.

A Unique Blend of Crossword and Word Search

The main focal point is to uncover the “spangram,” a word that more clearly articulates the puzzle’s theme. For instance, the spangram in the puzzle focused on “Better with age” is FERMENTED, representing items that, naturally, improve with time. The spangram spans across the entire board either horizontally or vertically. A highlighted spangram in yellow simplifies further puzzle-solving.

In Strands, words can be arranged in any direction (up, down, left, right, and diagonal), with each letter being utilized just once. Only one correct answer exists. Correctly identifying a word (such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI) will highlight it in blue.

When faced with difficulty, submitting non-theme words that are four letters or longer will earn hints. For every three non-theme words submitted, the “Hint” button becomes accessible; clicking it will highlight all letters in one of the theme words. However, they must be linked correctly to form the respective word. If a hint is already on the board, using another will reveal the letter order for that word.

The Path to Victory in Strands

In contrast to Connections and Wordle, there’s no possibility of failure in Strands. Submitting guesses results in either identifying a valid answer, earning a hint credit, or a vibration indicating that the word is too short or invalid. There’s no limit on guesses, and no time restraint applies.

Victory is achieved by uncovering all letters on the board, meaning the spangram and all theme words must be identified. Upon solving, a shareable card will showcase how well you performed: blue dots 🔵 mark theme words you found, while the yellow dot 🟡 highlights the spangram. A lightbulb 💡 indicates words you received hints for.