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 Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, May 21 (game #444).
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 #445) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Keeping an eye on things
NYT Strands today (game #445) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- STRUT
- NEED
- CRUDE
- CURSE
- DINE
- TRAP
NYT Strands today (game #445) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 8 letters
NYT Strands today (game #445) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: top, 2nd column
Last side: bottom, 1st column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #445) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #445, are…
- STEWARD
- GUARDIAN
- PROTECTOR
- CUSTODIAN
- TRUSTEE
- SPANGRAM: TAKE CARE
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 1 hint
The theme made me think that we were looking for things that watched over us – cameras, drones, spies.
After getting STEWARD as a hint word I settled on hunting down professions, although it took me a while to realize that it wasn't guard I was searching for, but GUARDIAN.
I got PROTECTOR next, but then got stuck before eventually finding the very twisty-turny CUSTODIAN.
All of these words sound very authoritative, law abiding, and solid, which is just as well as we need serious people to save us from the scammers and ne'er-do-wells who are also “keeping an eye on things”.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, May 21, game #444)
- MATCH
- PAIR
- PARTNERS
- TWINS
- TWOSOME
- COUPLE
- SPANGRAM: DOUBLE TROUBLE
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.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.