BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

‘Destiny 2’ Talks Exotic Class Item Drop Rate, Hunter Nerfs, Glimmer Droughts
Netflix’s Best New Show ‘Supacell’ Retains Its 100% Critic Score As It Looks To Season 2
The First Descendant’s Playercount Shows Why People Are Still Making Live Looters
‘The Acolyte’ Fanbase Has Found Its Sexiest Sith Alive In An Unexpected Place
Some Disappointing News About ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4’ And Its Distant Release Date
‘Gundam: Silver Phantom’ Confirms Delta Gundam Variant In New Trailer
Edit Story
ForbesInnovationGames

Today’s NYT ‘Strands’ Hint, Spangram And Answers For Thursday, July 4

Paul Tassi
Senior Contributor
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.
Following

Looking for Wednesday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:

ForbesToday's NYT 'Strands' Hint, Spangram And Answers For Wednesday, July 3By Paul Tassi

It’s the Fourth of July, and I wondered if Strands was going to take the day off. Well, it didn’t, and instead made a Fourth of July themed puzzle instead.

How To Play Strands

The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s in beta for now, which means it’ll only stick around if enough people play it every day.

There’s a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and you’ll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.

You’ll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links two opposite sides of the board. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.

Be warned: You’ll need to be on your toes.

“Some themes are fill-in-the-blank phrases. They may also be steps in a process, items that all belong to the same category, synonyms or homophones,” The New York Times notes. “Just as she varies the difficulty of Wordle puzzles within a week, [Wordle and Strands editor Tracy] Bennett plans to throw Strands solvers curveballs every once in a while.”

MORE FROMFORBES ADVISOR

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

By
Kevin Payne
Contributor

Best 5% Interest Savings Accounts of 2024

By
Cassidy Horton
Contributor

What Is Today’s Strands Hint?

We will begin with the official hint from the NYT and then I will make one of my own. Their hint is:

Nation celebration

Mine is:

It’s the Fourth of the July. I mean come on. Obviously.

What Are Today’s Strands Answers?

Spoilers begin as we talk about the answers starting with the spangram and then the full list after that. The spangram is

INDEPENDENCE DAY

And that is found on the board here:

The rest of the list:

  • SPARKLER
  • FIREWORKS
  • PICNIC
  • FLAG
  • PARADE

Yeah that about covers it. That is easily the longest, most winding spangram I’ve ever seen, snaking around the board. I tried INDEPENDENCE by itself first but that just gave me a piece of a hint.

This one is generally pretty easy. Obviously FIREWORKS were going to be in there. PARADE, FLAG, PICNIC, essentially zero surprises. So I guess they’re sort of giving us the day off with how easy this one was.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

Paul Tassi
Paul Tassi
Following

Join The Conversation

Comments 

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 

Read our community guidelines .

Forbes Community Guidelines

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's Terms of Service.  We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

  • False or intentionally out-of-context or misleading information
  • Spam
  • Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kind
  • Attacks on the identity of other commenters or the article's author
  • Content that otherwise violates our site's terms.

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

  • Continuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejected
  • Racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory comments
  • Attempts or tactics that put the site security at risk
  • Actions that otherwise violate our site's terms.

So, how can you be a power user?

  • Stay on topic and share your insights
  • Feel free to be clear and thoughtful to get your point across
  • ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike’ to show your point of view.
  • Protect your community.
  • Use the report tool to alert us when someone breaks the rules.

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's Terms of Service.