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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, February 17 (game #716).
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 #717) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Cold competition
NYT Strands today (game #717) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- BROAD
- STOP
- SPOTS
- BRINE
- RING
- BIRD
NYT Strands today (game #717) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 12 letters
NYT Strands today (game #717) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: top, 1st column
Last side: bottom, 6th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #717) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #717, are…
- LUGE
- BOBSLED
- SNOWBOARDING
- HOCKEY
- CURLING
- SPANGRAM: WINTERSPORTS
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
The first thing that I thought of when I read the theme “cold competition” was the Winter Olympics, but the easily spotted spangram was actually WINTERSPORTS.
I have an ice phobia, due to slipping on a patch of black ice and breaking my leg a while back, but despite occasionally wincing over the crashes in the speed skating events, I am really enjoying the Winter Games.
The skeleton, which doesn’t feature here, is my favorite event — the bravery of hurling yourself down a sheet of ice dumbfounds me as do the minuscule movements that are the differences between medalists.
In terms of gameplay this was a relatively easy run, although I did labor over several creative spellings of LUGE (why did I think it contained an H) before finally getting it right.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, February 17, game #716)
- HORSE
- SNAKE
- TIGER
- MONKEY
- RABBIT
- DRAGON
- GOAT
- SPANGRAM: ZODIACSIGNS
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.
