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NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, October 6 (game #217)

Reporters Desk

October 6, 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 #217) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Got any bleu cheese?

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #2 – clue words

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

LATE
GLADE
BLADE
NICK
CHICK
TOAST

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #3 – spangram

What is a hint for today’s spangram?

• Food in rows

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

First: top, fourth column

Last: bottom, fifth column

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

NYT Strands today (game #217) – the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 217 on a blue background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #217, are…

BACON
CHICKEN
TOMATO
VINAIGRETTE
GREENS
EGGS
SPANGRAM: COBBSALAD

My rating: Moderate
My score: Perfect

I presume there might be a split between people in the US and those in the rest of the world here. Or maybe it’s only me that had not really heard of a COBBSALAD and therefore struggled to solve this one. I was also very confused by the theme clue of ‘Got any bleu cheese?’, which made me think it was something French – because otherwise why is it spelled ‘bleu’ and not ‘blue’. So the whole thing was a bit baffling.

I solved it in the end, but it was really just a case of trial and error. I spotted BACON early on, and CHICKEN too, so I realized it was a food-themed puzzle. The others took me a while to find, and getting the spangram was entirely based on there being nothing else it could be by the time that I got it. Not the most satisfying game for me – though if you know and like Cobb Salad (which to me sounds disgusting) then maybe you’ll have been fine with it. Ho hum.

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

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday 5 October, game #216)

SHAM
FAKE
QUACK
PHONY
HOAK
CHARLATAN
HUMBUG
SPANGRAM: THATSUNREAL

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.

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).