Strands Puzzle Hints for April 10, 2025
Preparing for the Strands puzzle today? The theme is “What’s the buzz?” Here, you’ll find useful hints, insights, and ultimately, the answers you need.
To easily revisit our Strands hints daily, consider bookmarking this page. You can also check out previous hints if you want to catch up on any past puzzles.
Below are some subtle hints regarding today’s Strands answers. Scroll through to find the clues you need, and further down, the complete answers including the spangram will be revealed!
Spangram Hint
Think of a buzzing creature essential for pollination.
Theme Words Hint
Consider the anatomy of this specific insect.
Caution: Spoilers Ahead!
The answers to today’s Strands puzzle are just around the corner.
Spangram Solution
The spangram for today is BUMBLEBEE.
Theme Words Revealed
Today’s theme words are: ANTENNAE, THORAX, ABDOMEN, WINGS, TONGUE, STINGER.
Here is how the completed board appears:
Puzzle Solving Process
It seems the theme revolves around insects or bees. Let’s investigate.
The word ANTENNAE is prominently displayed at the top. 🔵
Below it, on the left side, is THORAX. 🔵 Perhaps indicating parts related to bees?
A bit lower is STINGER. 🔵
The spangram across the bottom reads BUMBLEBEE. 🟡
WINGS is located toward the top right. 🔵
The centerpiece is ABDOMEN. 🔵
Finally, we have TONGUE. 🔵 Though not commonly considered, bumblebees indeed have a tongue for consuming sustenance!
Strands #403 “What's the buzz?” 🔵🔵🔵🟡 🔵🔵🔵
Playing Strands
The Strands game is accessible on the New York Times website as well as through the NYT Games app.
When you begin, a game board filled with letters will appear, accompanied by a clue that hints at the theme—an expression like “Better with age.” Your objective is to uncover hidden words based on this theme.
Combining Elements of Crossword and Word Search
The crucial word to uncover is the “spangram,” which succinctly encapsulates the theme. (For instance, the spangram for “Better with age” is FERMENTED, showcasing items that indeed improve over time.) This spangram will traverse the board horizontally or vertically (hence the term). Discovering the spangram generally simplifies solving the rest of the puzzle.
In Strands, words can be oriented in any direction (up, down, sideways, and diagonally), with each letter being utilized only once. There exists one definitive solution. When a word is accurately identified (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If challenges arise, submit any non-theme words with a minimum length of four letters to earn hints. Accumulate three non-theme words and the “Hint” button becomes active; clicking it will highlight letters of one theme word for you. However, you still need to arrange these letters correctly. If a hint has been activated and further hints are used for the same word, that word’s letter sequence will be exposed.
Winning Strands
Unlike other games like Connections and Wordle, Strands has no failure condition. Submitting guesses will either confirm a valid answer, earn hint credit, or indicate an invalid word with a shaking effect. There are unlimited guesses and no urgency.
Victory is achieved when every letter on the board has been used, signifying the identification of both the spangram and all theme words. Similar to other NYT games, once the puzzle is completed, a shareable card appears showing your performance: blue dots 🔵 represent theme words identified, the yellow dot 🟡 shows the spangram discovery, and a lightbulb 💡 marks words you received hints for.
