Clues and Solutions for Strands: March 8, 2025 Edition
For those seeking guidance and solutions for the Strands puzzle themed “Two Thumbs Up” on March 8, 2025, this post is for you. A variety of hints and tips will be shared, ultimately leading to the complete solution of the puzzle.
To easily revisit our hints each day, consider bookmarking this page. This resource also contains our previous hints, giving you the chance to catch up on any past puzzles you may have missed.
Below, a selection of indirect clues for today’s Strands answers will be provided, with the answers and spangram revealed further down the page. Take your time and only take the hints you find necessary!
Clue for Today’s Spangram
The final accolade presented during the prestigious Academy Awards ceremony.
Clue for the Theme Words
Films that have earned this two-word honor in the past.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle are about to be disclosed.
What’s the Spangram?
The spangram for today is BESTPICTURE.
What are Today’s Theme Words?
The theme words include: CODA, MOONLIGHT, SPOTLIGHT, PLATOON, PARASITE.
Here’s the solved board visually represented:
Solving Today’s Strands
This puzzle theme brings to mind movie critiques—think of it as “Steve Stevenson rated Little Women two thumbs up.” The connection to today’s puzzle theme needs further exploration.
Non-theme words like LIGHT, POOL, RAPS, CHEST, and STOP pop up.
The upper right corner reveals SPOTLIGHT, a title known for winning an Oscar. 🔵 This film did indeed secure the Best Picture award.
Also present is MOONLIGHT, another recipient of the Best Picture accolade. 🔵
Located in the upper left corner is CODA. 🔵
The spangram becomes evident from top to bottom: BESTPICTURE. 🟡
What do you think about this so far?
Completing the right side is PLATOON. 🔵
Finally, there’s PARASITE. 🔵
Strands #370 “Two thumbs up” 🔵🔵🔵🟡 🔵🔵
Playing Strands
The Strands game is accessible on the New York Times website and through the NYT Games app.
Upon entering the game, a board filled with letters appears alongside a clue hinting at the connected theme, which will typically be a phrase like “Better with age.” Your task is to identify the hidden words in the grid that correspond to the given theme.
A Blend of Crossword and Word Search
The key word to discover is the “spangram,” which clearly defines the theme of the puzzle. For instance, in a puzzle centered around “Better with age,” the spangram could be FERMENTED, indicating products that indeed improve over time. The spangram will cover the entire board horizontally or vertically (hence its name) and finding it simplifies the remaining puzzle significantly.
In Strands, words may be oriented in any direction—vertically, horizontally, or diagonally—and each letter can only be used once. There’s a single accurate solution for the puzzle. If a word such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI is correctly guessed, it is highlighted in blue.
If progress stalls, submitting any non-theme words of four letters or more will earn you credit towards a hint. After three such submissions, the “Hint” button becomes clickable; activating it reveals all letters in a theme word. It’s essential to arrange the indicated letters correctly to construct a theme word. If hints have already been utilized and further hints are requested, the letter sequence for that word will be unveiled.
Winning Strands
Unlike other games like Connections and Wordle, Strands offers a risk-free experience. Each submission will either be a correct answer, yield hint credits, or prompt a visual shake indicating an invalid or too-short word submission. There’s no limit to the number of guesses, nor is there a timer.
The aim is to utilize all letters on the board correctly, accounting for both the spangram and all theme words. Upon solving, players receive a shareable card displaying their performance with blue dots 🔵 marking the theme words uncovered, a yellow dot 🟡 for the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 for words that involved hints.
