The weekend is the perfect time to play the NYT's Strands game, because you don't have to worry about work and can therefore dedicate as much time as you want to solving it! Unless you do work today, of course, which is quite possible. If so, I'm sorry for making you feel worse about that. Please take my hints for today's game by way of apology.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
NYT Strands today (game #76) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Part of the equation
NYT Strands today (game #76) - hint #2 - clue words
What are some good clue words today?
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
• REEDY
• LEVER
• TALE
• CLAM
• DIVE
• LAME
NYT Strands today (game #76) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Summing it up
NYT Strands today (game #76) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
• First: left, 1st row
• Last: right, 4th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #76) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #76, are…
- DIVIDE
- MULTIPLY
- CALCULATE
- SUBTRACT
- DERIVE
- SPANGRAM: MATHEMATICS
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
A surprisingly tough Strands puzzle today, considering there are limited options once you know what the theme is. Much of that difficulty comes from the fact that there are only five answers plus the spangram, and that almost all of them are quite long words that require some unpicking. Even those that aren't (DERIVE and DIVIDE are the shortest, at six characters each) foxed me for quite some time, because I couldn't work out how to actually construct the word out of the letters on offer. Too many Es and Is and Vs!
It is, however, a Strands puzzle that you can solve through a combination of brute force and knowing what the likely answers are – and there really are only so many once you realise it's all about math.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 17 May, game #75)
- CHOPSTICK
- MITTEN
- PLIER
- BOOKEND
- TONG
- WING
- EARPLUG
- SPANGRAM: PAIRED
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's currently in Beta and 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.
