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TechRadar
Marc McLaren

NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Monday, September 16 (game #197)

NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background.

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.

NYT Strands today (game #197) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

Today's NYT Strands theme is… What a stud!

NYT Strands today (game #197) - hint #2 - clue words

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

  • LONE
  • BORN
  • SCAR
  • SCAN
  • PING
  • MEET

NYT Strands today (game #197) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

Skin adornments

NYT Strands today (game #197) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: left, 4th row

Last: right, 5th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #197) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #197, are…

  • CHEEK
  • NOSE
  • EARLOBE
  • EYEBROW
  • SEPTUM
  • NAVEL
  • TONGUE
  • SPANGRAM: PIERCING

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

Another day, another easy Strands puzzle. Come on, NYT – give us something tougher! Admittedly, the theme clue of 'What a stud!' left things open, and maybe I'd have struggled a little more if I hadn't uncovered CHEEK by accident when hunting for words. But once I had that it was clear what I needed to do. Completing it was then a simple matter of searching the word grid for parts of the body. Easy.

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


Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday 15 September, game #196)

  • WHISKEY
  • BITTERS
  • WATER
  • CHERRY
  • ORANGE
  • SUGAR
  • SPANGRAM: OLDFASHIONED

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.

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