A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Friday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, August 1 (game #516).
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 NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #517) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Pretty as a picture
NYT Strands today (game #517) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- MATTER
- FORT
- RULER
- JADE
- REST
- LIAR
NYT Strands today (game #517) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 11 letters
NYT Strands today (game #517) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: left, 6th row
Last side: right, 6th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #517) – the answers
The answers to today’s Strands, game #517, are…
- FILTER
- CROP
- BLUR
- ADJUST
- ERASE
- MARKUP
- ROTATE
- SPANGRAM: PHOTO EDITOR
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
The very first thing I saw in today’s grid was the word PHOTO, but when it didn’t turn blue I thought we must be looking for some other art-based topic. Then I saw the word EDITOR and put the pair of words together and landed today’s spangram.
From here it was a matter of thinking of as many photo-editing words as I could and then finding them on the board. FILTER and CROP came first, as they are my two most-used tools.
All of this has reminded me that, being something of a fat-fingered snapper, the key thing I need to do with my photo library on my phone is to delete all the many shots I have of the floor, my hand or the inside of my pockets. No amount of photo editing can fix them.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Friday, August 1, game #516)
- ADDER
- PYTHON
- COBRA
- MAMBA
- VIPER
- ANACONDA
- RATTLER
- SPANGRAM: SERPENT
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.