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 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 #260) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Coming up for air
NYT Strands today (game #260) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- SLAM
- CRAM
- AMMO
- WARN
- SHIN
- PEAS
NYT Strands today (game #260) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Water beasts
NYT Strands today (game #260) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First: bottom, 6th column
Last: top, 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 #260) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #260, are…
- ORCA
- DOLPHIN
- SEAL
- MANATEE
- WALRUS
- NARWHAL
- SPANGRAM: MARINEMAMMALS
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 1 hint
These MARINEMAMMALS are among my favorite of all animals. There's something about DOLPHINs, WALRUSes and SEALS that are just so appealing, and as for the slightly spooky but fascinating NARWHAL and MANATEE… they're just great, aren't they? I was surprised that WHALE was not among them, but otherwise all of the big stars of the marine mammal world were here.
This Strands was a tricky one to complete, though, because several of the words are unusually spelled. In fact, I used a hint for the first word, and when it gave me C, O, R and A it took me several minutes to assemble that into ORCA! I got there in the end, as I suspect most people will, because there are only so many possible answers here; getting started was tough, but there's not a huge amount of specialist knowledge required, at least.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, 17 November, game #259)
- TOWER
- CASTLE
- BRIDGE
- FORT
- PALACE
- MONUMENT
- ARCH
- SPANGRAM: LANDMARKS
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.
