The New York Times’ Strands puzzle for November 23 (#630) revolves around a sweet tooth theme, challenging players to identify hidden words within a grid. If you’re stuck, here’s a breakdown of the hints, clues, and the complete solution.
Understanding the Puzzle
Strands tasks players with finding words of four or more letters that fit a concealed theme. Once three such words are discovered, the game reveals one of the theme words. The ultimate goal is to locate all theme-related terms, including the “spangram”—a word spanning the puzzle’s entire grid.
Hints and Clues
Today’s theme is explicitly sweet tooth. A more direct clue is Halloween treats. The game’s mechanics reward finding any valid words of sufficient length; the theme words will unlock as you progress.
Words to Unlock Hints
To activate in-game hints, try forming these words from the grid:
- STRAND
- STRANDS
- REDS
- REND
- SEND
- SENDS
- TEND
- TENDS
- RENDS
- SANT
- RUST
Answers
The hidden words for today’s puzzle include:
- DOTS
- NERDS
- RUNTS
- STARBURST
- WHATCHAMACALLIT
The Spangram
The spangram—the central, grid-spanning word—is CANDYAISLE. Locate the ‘C’ three spaces to the right on the bottom row to begin tracing the full word.
Previous Challenges
Some recent Strands puzzles have proven particularly difficult. The January 21 theme, dated slang, and the January 15 theme, Thar she blows! (nautical terms), stand out as especially challenging. The toughest words from those puzzles were PHAT and BALEEN (or RIGHT ), respectively.
The Strands puzzle is designed to test vocabulary and pattern recognition. With these hints and answers, you should be able to solve today’s challenge efficiently.
