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.
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… How Poe-tic
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
WEARWINKDINNERMINDMINEPANG
What is a hint for today’s spangram?
• Black bird
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First: top, 5th column
Last: bottom, 4th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
The answers to today’s Strands, game #227, are…
DREARYPONDEREDWEARYMIDNIGHTWEAKNEVERMORESPANGRAM: THERAVEN
My rating: ModerateMy score: Perfect
Sorry, NYT – this one gets a big fail from me. Not because I failed to solve it; I completed it without using any hints. No, the problem here is that I was forced to solve it entirely by trial and error, because I have not read Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.
Look, I’m not a philistine. I’m relatively well read, although my tastes tend more towards modern fiction than the ‘classics’. But setting a puzzle that involves knowledge of one specific poem written more than 100 years ago, even one as famous as The Raven, is a bit elitist, no? Strands has form here, having previously made us all find words from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, among others. And that was stupid too.
Strands is at its best when it’s inclusive, when the puzzles are those that people could have a good guess at even if they didn’t know the specifics. Obviously a single game can’t cater for everyone, but the answers here are impossible to get merely by thinking – you know, the process of educated guessing, which is what games like this are usually about. Words such as PONDERED and WEAK here… unless you know the poem, you don’t have a chance. Well, you do – you can blindly hunt for words that might be the answer until you hit upon the right ones. But that’s not my idea of fun.
Anyway, I did solve it because the theme clue put a capital P in ‘How Poe-tic’, so it was obviously going to be Poe-related. I looked for HEART and didn’t find it, so I moved on to RAVEN and got the spangram, but everything after that was pure drudgery.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
SCALEFEATHERHAIRHORNSHELLWINGSPANGRAM: CREATUREFEATURE
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.