NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, July 5 (game #489) – 1v1 Video Chat & LIve Streaming & Influencer Subscription

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, July 5 (game #489)

Johnny Dee

Contributions from
Marc McLaren

4 July 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 Friday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 4 (game #488).
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 Saturday, June 28 (game #482)

NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, June 6 (game #460)

NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, April 19 (game #412)

NYT Strands today (game #489) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Every second counts
NYT Strands today (game #489) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

NYT Strands today (game #489) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 11 letters
NYT Strands today (game #489) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: left, 4th row
Last side: right, 6th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

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NYT Strands today (game #489) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Strands, game #489, are…

CHRONOMETER

SPANGRAM: TIMEKEEPERS

My rating: Hard
My score: 1 hint

My first thought when I saw the theme “every second counts” was the TV show The Bear, as that phrase has appeared many times across all four seasons.

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However, I soon realized that was very niche and we were actually looking for a much more literal interpretation.
Suffering a bad case of letter blindness, I took a hint after finding dozens of words that we weren’t looking for. CLOCK unlocked the rest of the board in a matter of minutes.
Until this puzzle, I didn’t actually realize what a CHRONOMETER was, I just thought it was a posh wristwatch. But the main thing this search got me thinking about is how we build our entire life around time, but we have so few TIMEKEEPERS – as evidenced by the fact that this search includes SUNDIAL and HOURGLASS. It’s almost as if we haven’t got enough time to invent new ways to keep time.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 4, game #488)

SPANGRAM: BARBECUE

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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