Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #769, April 11

Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? No shame in that, and you've come to the right place. Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #769 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

We'll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #769, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #769.

Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints

The official theme for NYT Strands #769 is... "You're putting me on."

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Headwear."

If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:

• QUOTE
• BERRY
• FARE
• ROAD
• BLUE
• FEAR
• BLEW
• RUDER

Still struggling? The spangram touches two opposite sides of the board (but can start and end anywhere), and will give you a hint about the connection between the answers. Today, it starts with 'T' and ends with 'R'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's TOPGEAR.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #769?

Drumroll, please...

• SOMBRERO
• BOWLER
• BERET
• FEDORA
• BEANIE
• DERBY
• TOQUE

...and the spangram was TOPGEAR.

Strands #769

“You're putting me on”

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Hi Strands fans. I don't think I'd have had any idea what the theme of "You're putting me on" related to, if it weren't for me seeing the word SOMBRERO spelt across the bottom of the board straight away.

That set me up nicely, and I quickly began listing all the types of hat I could think of (I would have tried for the spangram, but I noticed the letter 'H' wasn't anywhere to be seen).

I found BOWLER on the left-hand side above SOMBRERO, with BERET in the top right. I then spotted FEDORA to its left, with BEANIE in the corner.

With that, I'd cleared enough space to finally see the spangram: TOPGEAR, written across the board from left to right.

Two words were left to find, muddled together on the right side. I found DERBY spelt backwards up the side first, and that just left TOQUE to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #768.

• WILY
• CUNNING
• CRAFTY
• DEVIOUS
• CANNY
• SHREWD
• SLICK

...and the spangram was LIKEAFOX.

Strands #768

“On the sly”

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Hi Strands fans. I confess, I was absolutely lost at first and couldn't see a single answer.

So I used a clue which revealed WILY in the middle of the board, and I realized it was about synonyms for "sly". Which I suppose was pretty obvious given the theme was "On the sly". Oh well.

Anyway, after that it was plain sailing. CUNNING is the first word I associate with "sly", and that was in the bottom-right corner. Given it was right next to the 'X', I was able to get the spangram of LIKEAFOX while I was there.

CRAFTY and DEVIOUS completed the right-hand side, leaving three to find on the left. I found CANNY at the top, followed by SHREWD underneath it. That just left SLICK at the bottom to complete the puzzle.