NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, May 12 (game #70)

NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
(Image credit: New York Times)

Here's a nice, easy Strands puzzle from the NYT to end the weekend. It shouldn't cause too many people problems, but as always your mileage may vary – so read on if you do need a few hints to help you solve it.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Your Strands expert
Marc McLaren
Your Strands expert
Marc McLaren

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 #70) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

Today's NYT Strands theme is… Picture perfect

NYT Strands today (game #70) - hint #2 - clue words

What are some good clue words today?

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

GHOST

RICH

PRAISE

GRIN

POLITE

WORK

NYT Strands today (game #70) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

For your consideration

NYT Strands today (game #70) - hint #4 - spangram position

What two sides of the board does today's spangram touch?

First: bottom, 4th column

Second: top, 3rd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #70) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 70 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #70, are…

  • SPOTLIGHT
  • ROCKY
  • CRASH
  • GLADIATOR
  • PARASITE
  • SPANGRAM: OSCARWINNERS

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

This is possibly the easiest Strands puzzle we've had in a while, though how simple you found it may have depended on the order in which you uncovered the answers. 

In my case, I found SPOTLIGHT first, by accident, and given the theme clue ('Picture perfect') thought it was maybe something about photography. But when I then discovered ROCKY next, again by accident, I realized that it was Academy Awards-related. 

The spangram, OSCARWINNERS, followed immediately afterwards, and the likes of GLADIATOR, CRASH and PARASITE were all easy to tick off the list after that.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday 11 May, game #69)

  • TUXEDO
  • CORSAGE
  • DANCE
  • DRESS
  • COURT
  • BOUTONNIERE
  • SPANGRAM: PROMNIGHT

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.

TOPICS
Marc McLaren
Global Editor in Chief

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).