NYT Strands Today — Hints, Answers, and Spangram for Sunday, July 14 (Contest #133)
I had a bit of trouble with today’s Strands puzzle, for reasons I’ll explain below. But before you do, check out my hints for the game if you need them.
Want more word-based fun? Check out my Wordle Today, NYT Connections Today, and Quordle Today pages for hints and answers for those games.
SPOILER ALERT: Below is information about today’s NYT Strands. So don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands Today (Game #133) – Hint #1 – Today’s Theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• The theme of today’s NYT Strands is… Say my name
NYT Strands Today (Contest #133) – Hint #2 – Clue Words
Play one of these words to unlock the hint system in the game.
- COMPLAIN
- ANGLED
- MUF
- LAST
- THORN
- SURVEY
NYT Strands Today (Contest #133) – Hint #3 – Spangram
What’s a hint for today’s spangram?
• Sounds familiar
NYT Strands Today (Contest #133) – Hint #4 – Spangram Position
Which two sides of the board are affected by today’s spangram?
• First: top, 4th column
• Last: bottom, 4th column
Okay, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands Today (Contest #133) – The Answers
The answers to today’s Strands question, game #133, are…
- CHEERFUL
- WHINKING
- STORM
- TO FILL
- PEAT
- HAIRY
- REST
- ATOM
- SPANGRAM: HOMOPHONES
- My score: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
I’m a little confused by this Strands puzzle. On the face of it, it’s pretty straightforward: the answers are all homophones of names, e.g. GALE is GAIL, FILL is PHIL, PEAT is PETE. But some of them are marginal at best. HAIRY sounds a bit like HARRY, but it’s not really a homophone. Same goes for MERRY – MARY? And then there’s ATOM, which I don’t get at all. Is that a homophone for ADAM? For TOM? I even ran every word through the excellent Rhymezone homophone finder, and it returned results for all the words except WHINNY (which I know for sure is WINNY) and ATOM. I really don’t know what that’s supposed to be.
Still, this was a good Strands puzzle. I always like homophones as a theme for games, and this one was challenging without being impossible. More of these please.
How was your day? Send me an email and let me know.
Answers from yesterday’s NYT Strands (Saturday, July 13, Contest #132)
- TURTLE
- SMOKING
- STRIPED
- BLACK
- CALICO
- ORANGE
- SPANGRAM: FUR COAT
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the new word game from the NYT, after Wordle and Connections. It is now out of beta and is therefore a full member of the NYT stable of games and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I have a complete guide to playing NYT Strands, complete with tips to solve the game. If you are having a hard time beating the game every day, you can definitely check it out.
