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Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #716, February 17

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Need help with Strands #716? Here are some hints and the answers

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(Image credit: Tom’s Guide/NY Times/Shutterstock)
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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 #716 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #716.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #716 is... "The year of the..."

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

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

  • GROAN
  • SONG
  • GRAND
  • BARDS
  • SNAG
  • DRAB
  • STAIN
  • SIRE

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 'Z' and ends with 'S'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's ZODIACSIGNS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #716?

Drumroll, please...

  • DRAGON
  • RABBIT
  • MONKEY
  • TIGER
  • HORSE
  • GOAT
  • SNAKE

Strands #716

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was ZODIACSIGNS.

Strands #716

“The year of the ...”

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Hi Strands fans. A nice easy one today, as "The year of the..." can surely only refer to Chinese New Year, which happens to be today. The only downside to this is that my Chinese animal is the rat, which is too short to be a Strands answer.

Still, that didn't hurt things, as I quickly found the spangram of ZODIACSIGNS in a circle in the middle of the board.

I then set to work finding animals. DRAGON was in the middle of the spangram, with RABBIT to its left. Following words along, I found MONKEY to its right, and TIGER next to that to complete the bottom half of the board.

The top half was a little trickier as there were only 14 letters split between three words. But I eventually found HORSE in the top-left corner, with GOAT spelt backwards to its right. That just left SNAKE to connect to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #715.

Stands #715

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • JUMP
  • SPIN
  • THROW
  • LIFT
  • LOOP
  • COMBO
  • CROSSOVER

...and the spangram was FIGURESKATING.

Strands #715

“The cutting edge”

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Hi Strands fans. As you can see from the scoreboard above, I really struggled with today's puzzle.

It doesn't help that I've paid no attention whatsoever to the Winter Olympics, but when I saw the theme of "The cutting edge", I immediately looked for kinds of blade.

Finding nothing, I used my first clue to reveal JUMP. That left me none the wiser, but I still went on a short answer-finding spree connecting both SPIN and THROW below it.

After that, I was lost again and used another clue that connected LIFT. Still clueless, I used a third which showed LOOP.

These were enough to put me out of my misery, as I could see the tail end of the spangram, and worked backwards to spell out FIGURESKATING in a loop around the word LOOP.

Thankfully the final two answers were isolated from each other, so I just had to unpick a couple of anagrams. COMBO was in the bottom-left corner, with CROSSOVER at the top to complete the puzzle.

Alan Martin
Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.

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