NYT Strands today – my hints and answers for July 21 (#505)
- The spangram in today's game has 7 letters.
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Credit: New York Times
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 Sunday's puzzle insteadthen click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, July 20 (game #504) .
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.
NYT Strands today (game #505) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
•Today's NYT Strands theme is… I fold!
NYT Strands today (game #505) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
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BANK
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BRINE
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FLOW
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SHIFT
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TURBO
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WHEY
NYT Strands today (game #505) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
•Spangram has 7 letters
NYT Strands today (game #505) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: left, 4th row
Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #505) - the answers
Credit: New York Times
The answers to today's Strands, game #505, are…
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KITE
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FROG
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FISH
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CRANE
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BUTTERFLY
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SPANGRAM: ORIGAMI
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My rating:Hard
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My score:2 hints
It took me until my fourth word, which was CRANE, to understand the significance of "I fold!". After that it was a case of finding a letter-O close to an edge and connecting ORIGAMI.
Despite this moment of revelation, today's search didn't get any easier – mainly because a crane is the most obvious shape you can make, but also because hundreds of items can be created by folding a square piece of thin paper.
Thankfully, FLOWER and BUTTERFLY were easy to spot, but even though there were only five letters left I still struggled to see HEART (trying "earth" first – maybe you just screw the paper up into a ball).
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, July 20, game #504)
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WRAP
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BIKINI
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SARONG
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TRUNKS
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SANDALS
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SWIMSUIT
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SPANGRAM: BEACH ATTIRE
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 h ow to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
