NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, September 22 (game #568)
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 Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, September 21 (game #567).
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 #568) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Find an opening
NYT Strands today (game #568) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- LOOK
- CHINE
- COAL
- LOVE
- THAN
- MINT
NYT Strands today (game #568) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 10 letters
NYT Strands today (game #568) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: left, 5th row
Last side: right, 1st row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #568) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #568, are…
- NOOK
- CRANNY
- CREVICE
- ALCOVE
- NICHE
- PIGEONHOLE
- SPANGRAM: MINDTHEGAP
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 hint
Anyone who has visited London and traveled on the tube will be familiar with the public service announcement broadcast at many stations to “MIND THE GAP” intended to warn passengers about the often quite large gaps between the train entrance and the platform.
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It’s uniquely British, but the thing that always bothers me about it is why can’t the great minds who built and developed the miraculous London Underground also build or at least adapt the trains or the platforms so that we don’t have to “mind the gap”?
Anyway, I digress. Today’s Strands was quite the challenge and even after finding five of the seven words I still had to use a hint to get me over the line. I had spotted “hole” and put it in my list of non-game words but neglected to see the word “pigeon” before it.
It had all started so well – after spying NOOK I just knew that the puzzle had to contain CRANNY and so it proved. CREVICE came next, which reminded me of the time I looked down a mile-deep crevice while snowmobiling in Iceland. That’s another digression, but let's just say on that occasion I really did MIND THE GAP.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, September 21, game #567)
- FORTIFY
- SUPPORT
- COMFORT
- BOLSTER
- STRENGTHEN
- SPANGRAM: SOLIDARITY
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.
Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.
- Marc McLarenGlobal Editor in Chief
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