NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #216 (Saturday, October 5 2024)

NYT Strands on a cellphone
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide/NY Times/Shutterstock)
Strands today: Quick menu

Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "No way!" — is a bit tricky to grasp, but it's a fun puzzle once you get your head around it.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #216, 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 #216, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #216.  

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #216 is... "No way!"

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Don't believe everything you read".

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

  • THUMB
  • QUAKE
  • PLAY
  • CHART
  • GUST
  • CARE
  • TUSK

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it both starts with 'T' and ends with 'L'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's THATSUNREAL.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #216?

Drumroll, please...

  • HOAX
  • CHARLATAN
  • QUACK
  • FAKE
  • SHAM
  • PHONY
  • HUMBUG

Strands #216

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

..and the spangram was THATSUNREAL.

Strands #216

“No way!”

🔵🔵🔵🔵

🔵🔵🟡🔵

Hi Strands fans. This might be my favorite puzzle to date, requiring just the right amount of lateral thinking and brain-teasing to complete.

That started with the theme - "No way!" - which is maddeningly vague. But there were a couple of useful letters to get started with, including 'Q' and 'X', and it was the latter which gave me the first answer: HOAX, on the right-hand side of the grid. 

This confirmed that the theme was about disinformation, and after that the words just tumbled out. I got CHARLATAN immediately above it, and was then able to place that 'Q' with QUACK. FAKE and SHAM were easy enough to find, both located to its left.

Even though I had a grasp on the topic now, I still couldn't quite figure out the spangram, so I carried on looking for words. When I found PHONY in the bottom right, however, I had a clear path to work backwards for the spangram, with the letters spelling out "unreal". I added "thats" to spell THATSUNREAL from the top left to near the bottom right.

That left just one word to complete today's Strands. I connected HUMBUG and finished the puzzle feeling rather proud of myself.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #215 right here.

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. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.

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