It's the middle of the week, and Strands continues to confound and delight in almost equal measure. Today's is one of the good days, I think: not too hard, not too easy, good fun. If you need hints for it you'll find them below, together with the answers if you want to skip straight to those.
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 #80) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Home grown
NYT Strands today (game #80) - hint #2 - clue words
What are some good clue words today?
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
• GRAB
• BARE
• SALE
• SAILOR
• RIDER
• SANE
NYT Strands today (game #80) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Remember me to one who lives there
NYT Strands today (game #80) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
• First: left, 7th row
• Last: right, 3rd row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #80) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #80, are…
- BASIL
- SAGE
- THYME
- PARSLEY
- ROSEMARY
- CORIANDER
- SPANGRAM: HERBGARDEN
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
It's a common refrain from me that Strands can be very, very difficult until something clicks… at which point it becomes a lot more approachable. Today's game is another good example of that. 'Home grown', as a theme clue, is actually reasonably helpful, but it wasn't enough for me to realize that what I needed here was herbs. It was only once I stumbled upon BASIL, entirely by accident, that I understood what was needed – and from that time on (THYME on?) it was simply a matter of finding the words.
The lyrics to Scarborough Fair, lodged firmly in my mind from both the Simon & Garfunkel cover and from Bob Dylan's peerless Girl from the North Country, helped me find several more, which was a nice bonus because the latter is now on repeat in my head, and that's never a bad thing.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday 21 May, game #79)
- FAVORITES
- WINDOW
- HELP
- TOOLS
- FILE
- HISTORY
- EDIT
- SPANGRAM: MENUITEMS
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.
