Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Friday‘s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, November 13 (game #985).
Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #986) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Preschool fun
NYT Strands today (game #986) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- SPOT
- SPILL
- STEP
- PEST
- FOIL
- WALL
NYT Strands today (game #986) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
NYT Strands today (game #986) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #986) – the answers
The answers to today’s Strands, game #986, are…
- SKIP
- JUMP
- SPIN
- GALLOP
- WALK
- TIPTOE
- SPANGRAM: FOLLOWTHELEADER
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 hint
The longest spangram for months finally solved the riddle of what all these movement words were about.
My first thought about the theme “preschool fun” was that we would be looking for toddler-friendly TV characters, but that was soon ruled out — finding SKIP and JUMP made me think it was about playground games generally, but then GALLOP totally confused me.
FOLLOWTHELEADER is one of those games that we stop playing when we are about five, so I’m forgiving myself for the memory lapse and needing a hint to cross the line..
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Friday, November 13, game #985)
- FLOOR
- SALT
- MIRROR
- BROKEN
- SPILLED
- THIRTEENTH
- SPANGRAM: ROTTENLUCK
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.
