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Technology
Alan Martin

Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #667, December 30

NYT Strands on a cellphone.
Strands today: Quick menu

Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? No shame in that, and you've come to the right place. Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #667 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

We'll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #667, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #667.

Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints

The official theme for NYT Strands #667 is... "2025 Top Twenty".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Musical hits".

If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:

  • BLOG
  • SANE
  • BREADS
  • BRIE
  • RATS
  • SAID
  • OSCAR

Still struggling? The spangram touches two opposite sides of the board (but can start and end anywhere), and will give you a hint about the connection between the answers. Today, it starts with 'H' and ends with 'S'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's HITSONGS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #667?

Drumroll, please...

  • GOLDEN
  • DAISIES
  • ORDINARY
  • ABRACADABRA
  • MANCHILD
(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was HITSONGS.

Strands #667

“2025 Top Twenty”

💡🔵💡🔵

🔵🟡🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. Ugh, this puzzle was not for me. I listen to a lot of music, but if you were to put an average year on it, it would probably be somewhere between 1994 and 2006. At the risk of sounding old and grumpy, I know nothing about 2025's biggest songs, and have precious little interest in learning more.

That meant that I used two clues to get started, and then had to feel my way around finding other random words until I completed the puzzle. That's probably the least fun I've had since starting this column.

Anyway, the clues revealed GOLDEN in the bottom right and DAISIES in the top right, which I've since learned are songs by Huntrix and Justin Bieber respectively.

I then stumbled my way into ORDINARY (Alex Warren) before seeing the spangram of HITSONGS.

That left two words on either side of the spangram. I found ABRACADABRA (Lady Gaga) on the right-hand side, followed by MANCHILD (Sabrina Carpenter) on the left to stumble over the line. Hopefully tomorrow's will be more my speed.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #666.

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • BELT
  • SHIRT
  • CUFFLINKS
  • JACKET
  • TROUSERS
  • VEST

...and the spangram was SUITYOURSELF.

Strands #666

“Are you putting me on?”

💡🔵🔵🟡

🔵🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. A clever puzzle this, with a cunningly disguised theme forcing me to use a clue which then left me kicking myself.

That theme was "Are you putting me on?" which typically would be an earnest inquiry as to whether someone was misleading you. Here, it's the suit talking, as this is all about parts of a formal outfit.

That was revealed by the clue which exposed BELT spelt backwards near the top of the board. From there, I was able to get SHIRT to its left, and then see the spangram of SUITYOURSELF. I then connected CUFFLINKS in the top-right corner to complete that half of the grid.

On the bottom half, I quickly found JACKET in the bottom-left corner, followed by TROUSERS to its right. That just left VEST in the bottom-right corner to finish the puzzle off.

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