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NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, June 6 (game #460)
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NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, June 27 (game #481)
Johnny Dee
Contributions from
Marc McLaren
26 June 2025
My clues will help you solve the NYT’s Strands today and keep that streak going
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(Image credit: New York Times)
Hint #1: Today’s theme
Hint #2: Clue words
Hint #3: Spangram letters
Hint #4: Spangram position
Today’s answers
Yesterday’s answers
Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Thursday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, June 26 (game #480).
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.
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NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, June 6 (game #460)
NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, May 2 (game #425)
NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, June 20 (game #474)
NYT Strands today (game #481) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Playing dirty
NYT Strands today (game #481) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
NYT Strands today (game #481) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 11 letters
NYT Strands today (game #481) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: bottom, 5th column
Last side: right, 4th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Today’s best Get Better At Wordle deals
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NYT Strands today (game #481) – the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Strands, game #481, are…
SPANGRAM: SANDBOX TOYS
My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect
Today’s theme went over my head a little. After finding BUCKET and SHOVEL in quick succession, my mind went to construction site rather than SANDBOX TOYS, but I guess it works both ways.
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A right-to-left spangram always plays with my mind a little bit and for extra fun today we had a yellow snake that took the unusual bottom-to-side route.
Apart from that, the biggest challenge was finding some words to include in the hints list – a sure sign that this particular edition was a little too easy.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Thursday, June 26, game #480)
SPANGRAM: GAME BIRDS
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.
See more Computing News
Contributor
Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna’s addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.
With contributions from
Marc McLarenGlobal Editor in Chief
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NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, June 6 (game #460)
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NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, April 19 (game #412)
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, June 22 (game #476)
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