NYT ‘Strands’ Hints And Answers For Monday, May 26
Today’s NYT Strands hints and answers.
Looking for Sunday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:
Hey, folks! Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers for Monday, May 26 are coming right up.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s available on the NYT website and in the NYT Games app alongside the likes of Wordle and Connections (which we also cover in daily guides at Forbes Gaming).
There’s a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and you’ll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.
You’ll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links at least two sides of the board, but it may not start or end there. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.
Every letter is used once in one of the theme words and spangram. You can connect letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and it’s possible to switch directions in the middle of a word. If you’re playing on a touchscreen, double tap the last letter to submit your guess.
If you find three valid words of at least four letters that are not part of the theme, you’ll unlock the Hint button. Clicking this will highlight the letters that make up one of the theme words.
Be warned: You’ll need to be on your toes. Sometimes you’ll need to fill the missing word(s) in a phrase. On other days, the game may revolve around synonyms or homophones. The difficulty will vary from day to day, and the puzzle creators will try to surprise you sometimes.
What Is Today’s Strands Hint?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hint for today’s Strands puzzle, I’ll reveal what the answer words are.
The official theme hint for today’s Strands puzzle is…
Body language
Need some extra help? Here’s another hint…
Communicating without making a sound
There are seven theme words to find today, including the spangram.
What Are Today’s NYT Strands Hints?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Strands hints.
Here are the first two letters of every theme word in today’s puzzle. They’re ordered from left to right, then top to bottom by any letter of the word appearing for the first time:
What Are Today’s NYT Strands Answers?
Before I reveal the other the full word list, I’ll first tell you the spangram and show you where that is on the grid.
This is your final spoiler warning!
Today’s Strands spangram is…
GESTURES
Here’s where you’ll find it on the grid…
New York Times Strands screenshot, showing the highlighted term GESTURES
Today’s Strands theme words are…
- HANDSHAKE
- CURTSEY
- KOWTOW
- GESTURES
- SALUTE
- NAMASTE
- SHRUG
Here’s what the completed grid looks like…
Completed NYT Strands grid for May 26, including the words HANDSHAKE, CURTSEY, KOWTOW, GESTURES, … More
This was a bit of a tough one! I used a hint to get SHRUG and then the spangram became immediately obvious. But there are so many possible gestures here, and two weren’t ones that I was especially familiar with.
I found HANDSHAKE and CURTSEY no problem. I realized that I’d never heard of KOWTOW in this context. I’d only ever known it as a word meaning to show deference to someone, not a physical gesture. I learned something new this time!
SALUTE was next but it took me longer than I care to admit to find the last word. I spent a while playing around with various combinations until I finally realized the answer was NAMASTE. I only knew of that as a word, and not a gesture, but it makes sense given the word’s literal definition of “bowing to you” or “I bow to you.”
I used one hint and the spangram was the second theme word I found.
See you tomorrow for more Strands fun!
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