NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, December 15 (game #287)

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 NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

  • QUEST
  • TEAR
  • BEST
  • RESCUE
  • TAPE
  • NEAR

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 #287, are…

  • FULL
  • WANING
  • WAXING
  • GIBBOUS
  • QUARTER
  • CRESCENT
  • SPANGRAM: LUNAR PHASE

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

Many wonderful songs mention the moon – Moon River, Fly Me to the Moon, Moondance, Bad Moon Rising – but few mention a particular LUNAR PHASE, today’s Spangram.

A couple of exceptions…

The fabulous Whole of the Moon by The Waterboys, is a tribute to someone with greater otherworldly talent than the singer, Mike Scott. “I sighed, you swooned,” he croons. “I saw the crescent / You saw the whole of the Moon”.

Another favorite is Easy from Now On by Emmylou Harris, which describes running away from a bad relationship and finding yourself beneath a “Quarter moon in a ten-cent town”.

Finally, a tune about the phase of the moon when it appears bulging outward but is not yet full: the off-kilter lament Gibbous Moon by Momus: “This world is lugubrious/ Aghast beneath a gibbous moon/ Waxing and waning with the death of all feeling/ But we will be free soon.”

Thank you, Strands, for this little Spotify rabbit hole.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


  • FIRE 
  • PASSION
  • DRIVE 
  • DEVOTION
  • INTENSITY
  • PURPOSE
  • SPANGRAM: GO GETTER

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