Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Monday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, August 25 (game #540).

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 NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #541) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Bee friendly

NYT Strands today (game #541) – hint #2 – clue words

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

  • BULB
  • FAME
  • RAIL
  • CLAY
  • GAMES
  • MALE

NYT Strands today (game #541) – hint #3 – spangram letters

How many letters are in today’s spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #541) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

First side: bottom, 3rd column

Last side: top, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #541) – the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 541 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #541, are…

  • DAISY
  • BLUEBELL
  • PRIMROSE
  • MARIGOLD
  • CHAMOMILE
  • SPANGRAM: WILDFLOWER
  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

When I saw the theme “Bee friendly” I automatically thought of nectar and flowers and quickly spotted the WILDFLOWER spangram.

Despite this being a relatively easy game I still struggled putting together a couple of the words.

I got DAISY and BLUEBELL easily enough, but it took me a while to see that the space between them was occupied by CHAMOMILE, which I associated with tea rather than flowers.

PRIMROSE I discovered in two parts – first “rose”, which even I know is not a wildflower, and then “prim”.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Monday, August 25, game #540)

  • LAPTOP
  • NOTEBOOKS
  • FOLDERS
  • BACKPACK
  • CALCULATOR
  • SPANGRAM: SUPPLIES

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.