And so the weekend comes to an end with another Strands game from the New York Times. It's a tricky beast, as many of them are, so read on if you need some hints for it.
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 #84) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Two-step process
NYT Strands today (game #84) - hint #2 - clue words
What are some good clue words today?
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
• BEST
• DUNE
• FORGE
• BREED
• FORT
• GROVE
NYT Strands today (game #84) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Partners
NYT Strands today (game #84) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
• First: right, 4th row
• Last: left, 7th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #84) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #84, are…
- CEASE
- DESIST
- FORGIVE
- FORGET
- DIVIDE
- CONQUER
- SPANGRAM: ACTIONVERBS
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
This is a bit of a bizarre one, to be honest. There's nothing wrong with the concept – the theme clue, 'Two-step process', nicely sums up the idea of words that go together, such as CEASE and DESIST. But I'm a bit baffled as to why the spangram is ACTIONVERBS. I mean yes, they are action verbs – but that's really not the defining quality here. There are, after all, hundreds of action verbs, but the reason why these ones have been chosen is because they go together in pairs.
OK, so, we've already had one Strands puzzle with PAIRED as the spangram, so I can see why the NYT wanted to avoid repeating that, but is there not a different, more relevant word/phrase that could have been used here. BEDFELLOWS or something.
Anyway, I managed to solve it, but there was a lot of trial and error involved. Each pair of words was essentially completed in the same way: find one half by playing words randomly until one turned blue, then look for its partner and find it very quickly. Not my favorite Strands game ever, frankly.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday 25 May, game #83)
- TIME
- STAKE
- MOOSE
- LEAK
- CHILLY
- MEET
- PAIR
- SERIAL
- SPANGRAM: HOMOPHONES
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.
