NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Tuesday, October 15 (game #226)

Our clues will help you solve the NYT's Strands today and keep that streak going

· TechRadar

News By Marc McLaren published 14 October 2024

(Image credit: New York Times)

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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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

Your Strands expert

Your Strands expertMarc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.

NYT Strands today (game #226) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Beast mode

NYT Strands today (game #226) - hint #2 - clue words

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

  • THREE
  • FREE
  • TREE
  • CELL
  • HEEL
  • SCAR

NYT Strands today (game #226) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Tooth and claw

NYT Strands today (game #226) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: bottom, 3rd column

Last: top, 3rd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #226) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #226, are…

  • SCALE
  • FEATHER
  • HAIR
  • HORN
  • SHELL
  • WING
  • SPANGRAM: CREATUREFEATURE
  • My rating: Moderate
  • My score: Perfect

This was a tricky Strands puzzle. The words are all well known, but I wasn't entirely sure what it was I was looking for until a fair way into it, and it took me ages to find the spangram. That answer – CREATUREFEATURE – winds up and down the board using 15 letters, so getting it was fairly crucial to solving the puzzle. It's always crucial, of course, but on some days it doesn't have an immediate impact on the ease with which you find most of the other solutions, but here it was so long that you really needed it in order to rule out others. I was never comfortable today until I had it, and that was late on.

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