Tech News

NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Monday, December 2 (game #274)

SACHIN KELKAR

December 2, 2024

NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Jump To:

Hint #1: Today’s theme
Hint #2: Clue words
Hint #3: Spangram
Hint #4: Spangram position
Today’s answers
Yesterday’s answers

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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

Your Strands expert

Marc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He’s authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today’s Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He’s also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.

NYT Strands today (game #274) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Beatlemania!

NYT Strands today (game #274) – hint #2 – clue words

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

SCAB
VANE
MANE
VOTER
RATE
GRATE

NYT Strands today (game #274) – hint #3 – spangram

What is a hint for today’s spangram?

• Fab tunes

NYT Strands today (game #274) – hint #4 – spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?

First: left, 4th row

Last: right, 7th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #274) – the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 274 on a blue background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #274, are…

TAXMAN
HELP
YESTERDAY
BLACKBIRD
REVOLUTION
SPANGRAM: SONGTITLES

My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect

This is unlikely to cause too many people trouble, given how well known The Beatles’ back catalogue is, and given that the theme clue wasn’t remotely cryptic. I spotted TAXMAN early, then solved the others in short order, no drama.

So instead, I’ll give you my verdict on the five songs here:

TAXMAN: One of their best mid-period tunes with a superb bassline, but come on, lads – you can afford to pay a bit of extra tax.

HELP: Almost impossible to hear it and not smile – or sing along.

YESTERDAY: You all know the story about the scrambled eggs, right? Good, well I won’t repeat it here.

BLACKBIRD: Is it a song about a bird, or the civil rights movement? Lovely tune either way.

REVOLUTION: The single is far, far better than the album versions, Revolution 1 and Revolution 9. Fact.

And there you have it: The Beatles! Yeah yeah yeah!

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

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Sunday, 1 December, game #273)

RECEIVER
SWITCH
DIAL
CRADLE
HANDSET
RINGER
SPANGRAM: ROTARYPHONE

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable and 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.

TOPICS

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He’s also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).