Look out, Wordle and Connections, here comes Strands. Like those two games, Strands is a New York Times online word game. Right now, Strands is only in beta, so it doesn’t yet show up in The New York Times’ Games app. You need to go directly to the game. And because it’s in beta, meaning it’s still being tested, it might be improved before it’s fully released. I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. Strands reminds me of those old-fashioned Word Find books they used to sell in every grocery-store checkout lane. You’ve given a grid of letters, but unlike the Word Find books, no list of words. That’s what makes the game fun — and frustrating.And if you’re reading this, you probably need some help with the June 16 Strands puzzle, so here we go. Warning: Scroll down too far and too fast and you’ll see spoilers.Need more answers? Here is the answer for today’s Wordle, and here are the answers for today’s Connections.Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So FarHint for today’s Strands puzzleToday’s Strands theme is It’s in the bag.But if that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Not coffee, but…Clue words to unlock in-game hintsYour goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work. TANG, MITE, DOPE, SONG, SMILE, LONE, MATCH, TOWER, TIME, LONG, PEAT, DOTE, ACHE, TEAT, MILE, HANG, GNAT, POWDERAnswers for today’s Strands puzzleThese are the answers that tie in to the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight, but learned that number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-spangram answers.MATCHA, CHAI, OOLONG, CHAMOMILE, JASMINE, GUNPOWDER (Yes, gunpowder is a type of tea.)Today’s Strands spangramToday’s Strands spangram is TEATIME. To spell it out, start with the T that’s four rows down, and wind your way across the puzzle. Drink up! How to play NYT Strands1. Use today’s theme to look for words relating to that topic. See one? Drag or click the letters in order. Click on the last letter twice to submit your guess. If you’ve found a theme word, it’ll light up in blue and stay that way.2. Other words you find are considered hint words that give you clues to the theme words. Find three hint words (they must have at least four letters each), and the game will reward you by showing you a theme word. But if you can’t unscramble it, find three more hint words, and the game will highlight the theme word’s letters in order.3. Hunt for the spangram, a special theme word that spans the entire puzzle, though it could flow across, or top to bottom. It summarizes the puzzle theme.4. When you’re done, you’ll have used every letter on the board in either a theme word or spangram. Theme words fill the entire board and do not overlap.
