Clues and Solutions for Strands – March 24, 2025
For enthusiasts seeking guidance on today’s Strands, dated March 24, 2025, you’re in the right place! This article will offer valuable hints and tips, culminating in the complete solution for the puzzle with the intriguing theme, “Yes, Queen …”.
To effortlessly revisit our daily Strands hints, consider bookmarking this page. This resource also houses previous hints, should you wish to catch up on past puzzles.
Below, you will find subtle clues pertaining to today’s Strands answers. Further down, the spangram and answers will be disclosed. Take your time scrolling, and extract only the hints you require!
Clue for the Spangram
Look for two terms associated with types of musical groups typically featuring a guitarist, bassist, vocalist, and drummer. (This also shares a title with a well-known video game that involves playing plastic instruments.)
Clue for Today’s Theme Words
Renowned bands within the music genre featured in the spangram.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
The answers to today’s Strands puzzle are about to be disclosed.
What is Today’s Spangram?
The spangram for today is ROCKBAND.
What are the Theme Words for Today’s Strands?
The theme words included today are: BLONDIE, JOURNEY, HEART, KISS, GENESIS, EAGLES, RUSH.
Below is how the board appears once the puzzle is completed:
Analyzing Today’s Strands
The title suggests a connection to royalty, rather than the more casual expression “yass queen.” It could also reference characters or figures whose names correspond with “Queen,” such as Latifah.
The word HEART appears along the top. 🔵 (Perhaps a nod to the Queen of HEARTs?)
Next to HEART is the word BLONDIE, which aligns perfectly. 🔵 Both of these represent iconic women-led rock bands! However, Queen was a male-only ensemble. Intriguing.
Then there’s the spangram: ROCKBAND. 🟡 So, it seems this theme transcends gender—my initial focus on BLONDIE and HEART was misleading.
RUSH sits in the bottom right area. 🔵
EAGLES flanks RUSH. 🔵
KISS can be located in the central upper section. 🔵
GENESIS is found in the upper right corner. 🔵
Finally, JOURNEY appears as well. 🔵
Strands #386 “Yes, Queen ...” 🔵🔵🟡🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵
Playing Strands
The Strands game can be accessed through the New York Times website and the NYT Games app.
Upon beginning, players are greeted with a game board filled with letters, accompanied by a clue indicating the overarching theme—often expressed as a phrase, like “Better with age.” The objective is to uncover the hidden words that align with the theme.
A Fusion of Crossword and Word Search
The prime focus is identifying the “spangram,” a specific term that encapsulates the puzzle’s theme. For example, in a puzzle themed “Better with age,” the spangram would be FERMENTED, denoting items that improve over time. The spangram spans across the board in its entirety, either horizontally or vertically, thus its name. Locating the spangram typically simplifies finding the remaining words in the puzzle.
In Strands, words can be arranged in any orientation (up, down, left, right, or diagonal), with each letter being used only once. There exists a singular solution to the puzzle. When a word is recognized correctly (for instance, KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will highlight in blue.
For those facing challenges with the puzzle, submitting any valid non-theme word of four letters or more will earn a hint. For every three non-theme words submitted, the “Hint” button will become available; clicking this will highlight letters in one of the theme words. The correct order must still be assembled using the highlighted letters. If there’s already a hint in play and another hint is activated, the sequence of that word will be disclosed.
Winning Strategies for Strands
Unlike games such as Connections and Wordle, Strands has no failure condition. Submissions may either reveal a correct word, accumulate hints, or produce a shake to indicate an invalid or too-short entry. There are no limits to the number of guesses, nor is there a timer.
A win is declared when all letters on the board have been utilized, confirming the identification of both the spangram and all associated theme words. Upon successfully completing the puzzle, a shareable card displays performance metrics, including blue dots 🔵 for theme words uncovered, a yellow dot 🟡 for the spangram found, and a lightbulb 💡 for words that were hinted at.
