Today's New York Times Stray Suggestions (and Solution) for Tuesday, August 27, 2024 (paraphrased)
If you're in search of tips and solutions for Strands on August 27, 2024, with the theme "Pixar fare", read on. I'll share some clues and tricks, and eventually, the puzzle answer.
For easy access to our Strands hints daily, save this page. You can also find previous puzzle solutions there.
Below, I'll provide you with indirect hints for today's Strands answers. Scroll down for the spangram and the answers, but take only the hints you need.
Hint for the spangram in today’s Strands puzzle
A vegetarian dish featured in a Pixar movie's title.
Hint for the theme words in today’s Strands puzzle
These are necessary ingredients for the aforementioned dish.
Be warned: Spoilers follow for today’s Strands puzzle!
We are about to reveal the answers to today's Strands puzzle.
What is the spangram in today’s Strands?
Today's spangram is RATATOUILLE.
What are the theme words in today’s Strands?
The theme words today are: CAPSICUM, TOMATOES, ONION, ZUCCHINI, EGGPLANT.
This is how the board looks when the puzzle is solved:
Credit: Strands/NYT## How I solved today’s Strands
The "Pixar fare" theme seems straightforward—it's likely Pixar movie titles.
The first word I found is CAPSICUM at the top left, and it's a match. 🔵 That's odd—I'm unsure if there's a Pixar movie with capsicum.
Credit: Strands/NYT
ONION is below that. 🔵 That sounds familiar, but which Pixar movie uses the onion?
There's TOMATOES. 🔵
Ah, I've found Ratatouille's main ingredients!
There's ZUCCHINI up right. 🔵
And there's the spangram from top to bottom: RATATOUILLE. 🟡
Lastly, EGGPLANT. 🔵
How to play Strands
You can find Strands on the New York Times website and in the NYT Games app.
When you start playing, you'll see a game board with letters surrounded by a hint clue: a theme, like "Popular advertisements" or "Funky fashion". Your goal is to uncover hidden words within the board that correspond to the puzzle's theme.
Strands is a crossword and word search hybrid
The most important word to find is the "spangram," which more explicitly expresses the puzzle's theme (such as FERMENTED for the puzzle with the theme "Improving with age"). The spangram will span the entire game board in one direction, so find it, and it will be highlighted in yellow. Solving the spangram often makes the rest of the puzzle more manageable.
In Strands, words can travel in various directions (up, down, left, right, and diagonal), and you'll use each letter once. There is only one correct solution. When you correctly identify one of the puzzle answers (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If you're having trouble, you can submit non-theme words (as long as they're four letters or more) as hints. If you submit three non-theme words, you can click the "Hint" button, which will highlight some of the theme word's letters for you. You must still link these highlighted letters to form a theme word. If there's already a hint on the board, and you use another hint before solving for that word, those letters' order will be revealed.
How to win Strands
Unlike Connections and Wordle, you cannot fail Strands. When you submit guesses, you will either correctly identify an answer, receive a hint, or the text will shake, indicating that the word you submitted is too short or invalid. You can't run out of guesses, and there is no time limit.
You win when you've used all the letters on the board, meaning you've found the spangram and all the theme words. Like other NYT games, upon solving the puzzle, you will see a shareable card that shows your performance that day: blue dots 🔵 indicate theme words you found, a yellow dot 🟡 indicates when you found the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 indicates words that you received a hint for.
Credit: Strands/NYT
After solving the Strands puzzle, you might want to relax with some entertainment. The theme for today's Strands was inspired by a Pixar movie featuring a beloved dish, so why not watch Ratatouille again? The main ingredients in Ratatouille are capsicum, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and eggplant, which were the theme words in today's Strands puzzle.
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