NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, June 18 (game #472)
My clues will help you solve the NYT's Strands today and keep that streak going

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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, June 17 (game #471).
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 #472) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Down time
NYT Strands today (game #472) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- CHOW
- BOWL
- HOWL
- ELBOW
- LOOM
- GLOOM
NYT Strands today (game #472) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 7 letters
NYT Strands today (game #472) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: left, 5th row
Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #472) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #472, are…
- BLUE
- GLOOMY
- TEARY
- DOLEFUL
- WOEBEGONE
- MELANCHOLY
- SPANGRAM: SADNESS
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 hints
Hi all, it's Marc here, back for a few days while Johnny takes a well-earned break.
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Everyone experiences a bit of SADNESS from time to time, and in my case it really hit me during the Covid pandemic in 2020. I suspect I'm far from alone in that respect, and went through most of the emotions in today's Strands, from BLUE to GLOOMY to MELANCHOLY.
That didn't make it any easier to solve the puzzle, admittedly; this was a tricky one from start to finish. I needed a hint to get the first one, BLUE, then together with the theme clue of 'Down time' was able to establish what the concept was.
SADNESS, the spangram, was an easy spot but after that I had to work for every word, and needed another hint for the impossibly complicated WOEBEGONE.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, June 17, game #471)
- FINAGLE
- FINESSE
- CONTRIVE
- ENGINEER
- NEGOTIATE
- SPANGRAM: FIGURE OUT
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.

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He's also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).
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