Want a mental break, or to fine-tune your word skills? The New York Times’ Strands puzzle of today is fun to solve. The Strands puzzle plays on word search mechanics with a unique twist: get words to which another word is linked around a common theme.
Each day Strands presents a six-by-eight grid of letters. The idea is to find words hidden across the grid, based on the daily hint, themed around a specific word. If a theme word is found, it becomes highlighted in blue and the Strands’ hint and spangram are must-have items when it comes to unearthing the board's hunky dory.
A spangram gives a hint to the theme and completes the puzzle. Once it is identified it will be highlighted with yellow, the spangram connects two opposite sides of the board. Unlike the theme words, the spangram can be a proper noun, a clue to what all theme words share.
Official Hint: "Extremely Online"
Additional Hint: "Internet Actions"
With that in mind, the game should start to come together. Usually, they're words dictated by verbs or actions related to popular online trends or social media interaction.
The spangram today reveals that today’s theme relates to actions that go with social media interactions generally.
These are actually words that apply to what you might do in an online mode of which social media is the platform.
LIKE
COMMENT
FOLLOW
REPORT
TWEET
POST
SHARE
These are all actions one can perform in a social media interaction. In other words, they’re the main ways users engage on popular platforms; whether by interacting with other users or contributing content.
The puzzles at The New York Times are always in daily puzzle rotation, except for Strands. It’s a blending of the word search aspect with the subtler question of theme identification to appeal to a broad yet deep audience.
Strands puzzles are vocabulary and creativity tests, but they subtly change each day to keep you interested. It’s more of a modern thing, more of a social thing, more of what’s occurring in everyday life and what’s happening on social media. So even the seasoned solvers get surprised and challenged by an occasional curveball from strips editor Tracy Bennett.
Start with the Hint: To brainstorm possible categories or themes use the hint. From there, this should provide you with the best places to look in this direction.
Look for the Spangram: Often early you can find the spangram and often you find the theme. The spangram remembers two sides of the board opposite to each other which helps to find the possible location.
Identify Action Words: If the theme is a hint at actions, search for verbs, especially if they’re towards the internet or social media. A good thing about Strands puzzles is that the actions we usually perform online, for example, sharing, posting, or following, are common in these puzzles.
Check the Length of the Word: If you’re having trouble with any words on Strands, the small board size means you won’t be able to use longer words, instead, stick with shorter, more common ones.
At present, Strands continues to evolve and engage users with its daily challenge, while continuing to attract puzzle enthusiasts and newcomers alike. The puzzle combines daily themes, internet culture, and word search mechanics for a great educationally fun puzzle.
Solve the Nov 07 Strands puzzle, and come back tomorrow for more hints and answers. Best of luck attempting to find today’s theme and spangram.