NYT Unveils Puzzling Hints and Solution for Monday, March 17, 2025 Puzzle
If you're in need of a hint for the Strands puzzle on March 17, 2025, I've got you covered! Today's theme is all about sound switching, and I'll spill the beans on some clues and tips to help you crack the case.
Bookmark this page for convenient access to daily Strands hints, as well as a look back at past puzzles you might have missed. Without further ado, let's dive into today's cryptic hints.
Spangram Hint
A word that represents a silly mistake in speech where the first letters of a phrase are mixed up. For example, saying "Three cheers for our queer old dean" instead of "dear old queen." If you're feeling lost, check out this Wikipedia page for a better understanding.
Theme Word Hint
Pairs of words that are infamous for such speech mix-ups as described in the spangram hint.
CAUTION: Spoilers are on the horizon for today's Strands puzzle!
Get ready to unveil the answers to today's Strands puzzle, but beware of the spoilers approaching.
Spangram Answer
Today's spangram is SPOONERISMS.
Theme Words
The theme words for today are: STRICKEN, CHIPS, BLUSHING, CROW, BEDDING, WELLS.
Here's a sneak peek at what the board looks like once the puzzle is solved:
Solving Strands
I'm guessing today's puzzle is going to revolve around sounds or volume, but I'm not entirely certain.
STING and CROWS are not theme words, but leave it to me to find that SPOONERISMS is the spangram! 🟡 A spoonerism is when someone accidentally switches the first letters of two words, like saying "belly jeans" instead of "jelly beans."
With CROW (not CROWS) discovered as a theme word, "blushing crow" (instead of "crushing blow") is a classic example of a spoonerism. 🔵
SPILL, CHEW, and SLIP are all non-theme words, but WELLS is a theme word. 🔵 ("Bedding wells" instead of "wedding bells.")
BEDDING is visible on the upper left corner of the board. 🔵 So, it's the pairs of words we're dealing with.
BLUSHING is up in the right corner, matching with CROW from earlier. 🔵
Lastly, we have STRICKEN 🔵 and CHIPS 🔵 (instead of "chicken strips").
Playing Strands
You can find Strands on the New York Times website and in the NYT Games app.
When you begin playing, you'll see a game board filled with letters, accompanied by a clue that hints at the theme. Your mission is to find the hidden words within the board that relate to the puzzle's theme.
A crossword meets a word search
The most important word to hunt is the "spangram," which more explicitly states the puzzle's theme. (For example, the spangram for a puzzle with the theme "Better with age" is FERMENTED.) The spangram will stretch across the entire game board either horizontally or vertically (hence the name). When you discover the spangram, it will be highlighted in yellow. Solving the spangram usually makes the rest of the puzzle easy-peasy.
In Strands, words can travel in any direction (up, down, left, right, or diagonal), and each letter is used only once. The solution is unique. When you correctly identify one of the puzzle's words (for example, KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If you're struggling with the puzzle, you can submit any non-theme words (as long as they are at least four letters) to earn a single hint. If you use three such hints, the "Hint" button will activate; if you click it, all of the letters in one of the theme words will be highlighted for you. You'll still need to link these highlighted letters in the correct order to form a single theme word. If a hint is already on the board, and you use another hint for a different word, the order of letters for that word will be revealed.
Winning Strands
Unlike Wordle and Connections, there's no chance of failure in Strands. You'll either correctly recognize a word, gain hint credit, or the text will shake back and forth, signaling an incorrect guess or a too-short word. You can't exhaust your guesses, and there's no time limit.
Victory comes when you've used all the letters on the board and unveiled the spangram and all the theme words. Just like other NYT games, upon solving the puzzle, you'll see a sharable card displaying your performance for the day: blue dots 🔵 indicate theme words you found, a yellow dot 🟡 indicates when you found the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 indicates words for which you received a hint.
References:[1] https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism[3] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spoonerism[4] https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spoonerism&year_start=1800&year_end=2020&corpus=26&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false[5] https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/10631/why-does-a-spoonerism-get-its-name-from-life-of-sir-william-archer
Entertainment continues to expand, with intriguing new additions such as the Strands puzzle from Aussiedlerbote. Today, March 17, 2025, promises a unique theme centered around sound switching, marked by the spangram answer 'SPOONERISMS'. Just like the playful mistake of saying "belly jeans" instead of "jelly beans", prepare to encounter pairs of words such as STRICKEN and CHIPS, blushing crow and crushing blow, and bedding wells and wedding bells in today's Strands puzzle. So, bookmark this page and join the fun on the New York Times website or the NYT Games app!
