Today’s Strands puzzle is a real head-scratcher, so you’ll need your wits about you to solve it. Not feeling at your smartest today? Don’t worry, I have some helpful hints for you below. (But you don’t need them really. Go on, you can do it. You got this!)
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
The answers to today’s Strands, game #52, are…
- MYSTERY
- CONUNDRUM
- QUANDARY
- ENIGMA
- RIDDLE
- SPANGRAM: BRAINTEASERS
I’m rating this one as very hard, despite the fact that I solved it without using any hints, because it was, frankly, a thoroughly frustrating experience.
Maybe my brain just wasn’t in the right place for it, but it took me about half a day to solve it. I started, stopped, took a break, started again, stopped again, got my hair cut, started, stopped, got lunch… I just could not find a way in.
Once I ‘got’ it, I was away – it was finding the first answer that was the problem. And that was made harder today by virtue of there being only six answers to find, all of which were relatively long words and with mostly complicated spellings. Not that I couldn’t spell them (I am a journalist after all), but that staring at the board didn’t make them materialize in the way that simpler words often do.
Eventually I spotted MYSTERY, at which point I realized I needed words that mean a puzzle. And then CONUNDRUM, ENIGMA, and QUANDARY followed. The spangram still foxed me for ages, though – I could see BRAINTEASER and must have played it a dozen times because I was so convinced it was the answer, before finally realizing it needed an ERS on the end. D’oh!
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
NYT Strands today (game #52) – the answers
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Tuesday 23 April, game #51)
- PECAN
- BUTTER
- FLOUR
- SALT
- SYRUP
- SUGAR
- VANILLA
- SPANGRAM: INGREDIENTS
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s currently in Beta and 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.
