Tips and Solutions for Strands on February 8, 2025
Explore hints and insights for the Strands game themed around “Westminster assembly.” Here, valuable clues and the final solution await!
For convenient access to daily hints, consider bookmarking this page. This resource includes past hints, so you can catch up on any missed puzzles too.
Below are some subtle hints regarding today’s Strands answers. As you read further, the complete answers and the spangram will be unveiled. Feel free to progress at your own pace and only take the hints that are helpful to you!
Spangram Hint for Today’s Strands
In the context of the Westminster Kennel Club, breeds are categorized into specific groups.
Theme Words Hint for Today’s Strands
Categories that various dog breeds could belong to.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Strands!
The answers to today’s Strands puzzle are about to be disclosed.
What is Today’s Spangram?
The spangram for today is DOGGROUP.
What are Today’s Theme Words?
The theme words are: SPORTING, TOYS, HERDING, HOUNDS, TERRIERS, WORKING.
Below is a view of the completed puzzle board:
Solving Today’s Strands
The name “Westminster” reminds many of landmarks such as Westminster Abbey in London, suggesting a search for related words. Additionally, the Westminster Assembly convened in 1643 to reform the Church of England.
While scanning the board, terms like SPORTS and RIDERS crossed my sight, but nothing seemed to click at first.
However, the word WORKING appeared in the bottom right corner, which triggered an understanding. It’s evident now: “Westminster assembly” alludes to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, where WORKING breeds form one of the categories.
An additional category, SPORTING, is located in the upper left section. The term HOUNDS is situated centrally on the board. The spangram proceeds from right to left: DOGGROUP. TERRIERS appears in the bottom left, while TOYS is presented in the upper center. Lastly, HERDING completes the set.
Strands #342 “Westminster assembly” 🔵🔵🔵🟡 🔵🔵🔵
How to Enjoy Strands
Strands can be found on the New York Times website and through the NYT Games app.
Upon starting the game, players are greeted with a grid filled with diverse letters, accompanied by a clue hinting at the theme—expressed as a phrase, such as “Better with age.” The objective is to uncover the hidden words that relate to the theme found within the grid.
A Unique Puzzle Experience
The central word to pinpoint is the “spangram,” which explicitly summarizes the puzzle’s theme. For instance, in a puzzle themed “Better with age,” the spangram would be FERMENTED. It will stretch across the board, either horizontally or vertically, and finding it usually simplifies the remaining tasks.
In Strands, words can be arranged in all possible directions (up, down, sideways, and diagonally), utilizing each letter solely once. Only one accurate solution exists for the puzzle. Correct answers will be highlighted in blue.
If encountering difficulties, players can submit any visible non-theme words of four letters or longer to earn hints. Submitting three such words unlocks the “Hint” button, revealing highlighted letters of one theme word. Correctly linking these letters sequentially will yield the identified word. If hints exist for a word, subsequent hints will unlock the order of its letters.
Tactics for Victory
In contrast to other games like Connections and Wordle, Strands does not allow for failure. Guesses will either yield correct answers, hint credits, or indicate invalid entries through a shaking motion. There are no limits on attempts, nor is there a countdown clock.
A win occurs when players correctly identify every letter on the board, meaning all theme words and the spangram are accounted for. As with other NYT games, a shareable card summarizing performance is displayed upon completion, with color-coded dots illustrating found theme words and the spangram, as well as hints utilized.
