NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Saturday, July 20 (game #139)

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

Here's a pretty simple Strands puzzle to start the weekend. But as always, that's just my experience – if yours is different, why not use my hints below to give yourself a head start…

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.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

Today's NYT Strands theme is… A seat at the table

NYT Strands today (game #139) - hint #2 - clue words

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

  • PLANT
  • PLANTS
  • SAUCE
  • PINK
  • SINK
  • POOL

NYT Strands today (game #139) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

A waiter's job?

NYT Strands today (game #139) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: bottom, 3rd column

Last: 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 #139) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 139 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #139, are…

  • SAUCER
  • FORK
  • KNIFE
  • SPOON
  • GLASS
  • PLATE
  • NAPKIN
  • SPANGRAM: PLACESETTING

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

This is a more traditional Strands puzzle than some of the recent examples: it's simply a collection of words that go together with one obvious theme. Once you find one, and identify the concept, you'll almost certainly have had an easy time of it. In my case, I spotted SAUCER by accident and immediately realized what was needed.

The only slightly tricky part of it was the spangram, with PLACESETTING escaping my attention until relatively late on.

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


Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 19 July, game #138)

  • FIELD
  • SWANK
  • BERRY
  • BRIDGES
  • PHOENIX
  • STONE
  • HUNT
  • SPANGRAM: BESTACTING

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.

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).

Read more
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, January 16 (game #319)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Wednesday, January 8 (game #311)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, March 21 (game #383)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Friday, January 24 (game #327)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, March 15 (game #377)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Tuesday, January 21 (game #324)
Latest in Websites & Apps
Google Maps on a phone being held in someone's hand
Google Maps is getting two key upgrades, for easier route planning and quicker access to Gemini AI
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Thursday, March 27 (game #1158)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, March 27 (game #389)
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, March 26 (game #1157)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, March 26 (game #388)
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, March 25 (game #1156)
Latest in News
Garmin clippd integration
Garmin's golf watches just got a big software integration upgrade to help you improve your game
Robert Downey Jr reveals himself as Doctor Doom to a delighted crowd at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
Marvel is currently making a major announcement about Avengers: Doomsday's cast on YouTube, and I think it's going to be a long-winded reveal
Samsung QN90F on yellow background
Samsung announces US prices for its 2025 mini-LED TV lineup, and it’s good and bad news
Nintendo Switch Lite
Forget the Nintendo Switch 2, the original Switch is getting one last hurrah in a surprise Nintendo Direct tomorrow
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge on display the January 22, 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge colors seemingly revealed in new video, and there’s another sign of an imminent launch
Microsoft Copiot Studio deep reasoning and agent flows
Microsoft reveals OpenAI-powered Copilot AI agents to bosot your work research and data analysis