Strands - new new york times game, just launched

Lavender Room
21

I’ll still give it a week…

I was wondering why ‘sins’ wasn’t registering for me. Learned in the rules that the theme could be two words, and goes from one end of the grid to the other. Saw ‘cardinal’ and that made sense.

22

Strands #4
“Don’t do it!”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡

Being a non-christian, after the first two I had to look it up.
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23

Great minds think alike.

24

Strands #5
“Do the do”
🔵🔵💡🔵
🟡💡🔵🔵
🔵

Seems like it gets more challenging over the week…

25

Strands #5
“Do the do”
💡🔵💡🔵
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🟡
.

26

Try to get the spangram first. Even better, do it without looking at the theme.

Strands #5
“Do the do”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵

27

I saw mohawk right away but took forever to finay the rest. The only other two hairstyles I could think of were flat top and afro.

Strands #5
“Do the do”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

28

Strands #5
“Do the do”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡

I haven’t been to a barber in 25 years. Even with the braids hint it took me a long time to spell it!

29

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
.

30

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
💡🔵🔵💡
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵

I simply didn’t get the theme until the 4th or 5th word.
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31

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Now I get it … spangram word as it spans end to end.

32

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🟡

Last time playing it. I hate it.

33

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🟡

Last time playing it. I hate it.

Jury’s still out for me…

Seems like:

  • It’s easier in the beginning of the week, then a bit more challenging as the week goes on.
  • I like KL’s tip of going for the theme early, as the theme touches one end of the grid to the other. "Span"gram (duh).
  • That tip helps find the valid words… especially early in the game when there are more words to see, but not all are related to the theme.
  • As you find words, the others come easier as the search space is smaller … and you also have a theme.

It’s got me… for at least another day.

34

Some days they jump right out.

Strands #7
“Sounds good to me”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵
.

35

This one was tough

Strands #8
“To put it mildly”
💡🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡
.

36

Strands #8
“To put it mildly”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Was looking for a mild-spice-cooking theme at first for some reason, then caught on.

37

… some info from NYT folks… Personally, I don’t see why GORF makes sense as a strategy or be permissible.

With Strands, you don’t poke around in a sea of letters for any and every word, with some letters never to be used. Instead, you look for something specific that fills the space in a meaningful way. Here’s a snippet from our notes on the game: “Imagine digging for fossils: When you find a rib cage, it may tell you a skull is near. You’re not just uncovering, say, 20 words. You’re uncovering the clever bigger picture created by those words.”
In an early version of the game, we tested a puzzle whose spangram — the term that ties together all the other themed answers on a Strands board — was FAIRY TALE. Other theme words included PRINCE and FROG. FROG appeared horizontally on the board from right to left. I highlighted it quickly during a demo and didn’t learn until later that a couple of my coworkers had thought that GORF was a character from some fairy tale they had yet to read. They just went with it — no questions asked. I love that our team can see nonsense like GORF and, rather than let doubt take the wheel, trust in the process enough to believe that GORF is something real and will make sense later.

38

Strands #8
“To put it mildly”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🟡
.

39

Strands #9
“Ruler’s decree”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵
.

40

Strands #9
“Ruler’s decree”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵
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