NYT ‘Strands’ Hints, Spangram And Answers For Wednesday, May 22

Looking for Tuesday’s Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:

ForbesNYT ‘Strands’ Hints, Spangram And Answers For Tuesday, May 21By Paul Tassi

It is Wednesday, meaning we are halfway through the week, unless it’s the morning, which would be 2/5ths through instead. But pass the time with a new Strands puzzle which features the word I have been the most stumped about in my whole time playing.

How To Play Strands

The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s in beta for now, which means it’ll only stick around if enough people play it every day.

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 two opposite sides of the board. 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?

We will begin with the NYT’s official hint for the day and then I will craft one of my own. The theme here is not the most difficult this time around:

Home grown

And my hint:

Seasoning

That should definitely get you on the right track, I think.

What Are Today’s Strands Answers?

Scroll slowly! This is where the spoilers begin, first with the spangram and then with the full list of words that build out the rest of the puzzle. The spangram is:

HERBGARDEN

And this is how it fits on the board:

Here are the rest of the answers:

BASIL

ROSEMARY

PARSLEY

SAGE

THYME

CORIANDER

Okay first and foremost….what is CORIANDER??? I have never been so stumped on a word. I googled herbs, I tried to use a letter unscrambler, I almost asked my Twitter followers. My cooking expert colleague Erik had to fill me in, but I have genuinely never heard of this thing in my life, which caused a huge problem. Easily the most stumped I have ever been on a single word in a puzzle like this.

If you don’t know either, Coriander is:

“The seeds that come from the coriandrum sativum plant. Outside the U.S., coriander refers to the leaves and stems of the coriandrum sativum plant, and the seeds are called coriander seeds. Coriander seeds are round with a beige color and a sweet-spicy flavor profile. Coriander seeds can be purchased whole or ground and are frequently used in pickling brines and in many Indian cuisines.”

So yeah, the more you know. The rest of these were easy, I’m not a total idiot, I know what SAGE and THYME are. But yeah, that was a tough one.

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