Today's Strands caused me huge problems, but I don't know whether I'd describe it as difficult. For some people it's probably easy, for others nearly impossible. Try it and see – and read on if you find you need some hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.
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 #146) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Bedtime story
NYT Strands today (game #146) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- MUTE
- SHUT
- SHUN
- SHUNT
- DOCK
- SHOT
NYT Strands today (game #146) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Lunar lullaby
NYT Strands today (game #146) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
• First: left, 6th 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 #146) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #146, are…
- CLOCKS
- NOBODY
- SOCKS
- MITTENS
- MUSH
- KITTENS
- SPANGRAM: GOODNIGHTMOON
- My rating: Baffled
- My score: 2 hints
I had exactly 0% idea of what was going on here until after I'd completed the game, at which point I googled GOODNIGHTMOON, the spangram, and learned in was a children's book from 1947. Right. Well, it's not one I'd ever heard of, and it seems an utterly bizarre choice to build a Strands puzzle around, unless it's way better known in the US, where the NYT is based, than it is in the UK. Or maybe it's just me? But I have kids, I read them hundreds of books when they were young, and I never came across this one.
Anyway, all of that made it something of a struggle to solve. I got most of the way through it purely by guessing random words, but couldn't work out the spangram. I could see that GOODNIGHT fit, and given the theme clue figured that might be part of it, but nothing I tried worked. Eventually I had to use hints to get the final two words (MUSH and KITTENS), at which point I found the spangram by default.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 26 July, game #145)
- TRACK
- SWIMMING
- KARATE
- GOLF
- EQUESTRIAN
- ARCHERY
- SPANGRAM: OLYMPICS
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable 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.
