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Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #809, May 21

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Need help with Strands #809? Here are some hints and the answers

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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 #809 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #809.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #809 is... "In a material world".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "What's that made of?"

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

  • KNOTS
  • VICES
  • SALT
  • CLOTS
  • KNIVES
  • FEELS
  • LIST
  • MINED

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 'F' and ends in 'S'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's FABRICS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #809?

Drumroll, please...

  • SATIN
  • WOOL
  • VELVET
  • COTTON
  • SILK
  • DENIM
  • FLEECE
  • LINEN

Strands #809

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was FABRICS.

Strands #809

“In a material world”

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Hi Strands fans. No great mystery as to what the theme of "In a material world" refers to. A synonym of "materials" is FABRICS, the spangram I saw across the middle of the grid to kick things off.

I then connected SATIN in the bottom-right corner, with WOOL above that. Moving even higher, I saw COTTON in the top-right with VELVET and SILK to its left. DENIM, in the top-left corner, completed the top half.

Two answers were left to find in the bottom half. FLEECE was just underneath the first few letters of the spangram, with LINEN underneath it to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #808.

Strands #808

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • LEISURELY
  • PLACID
  • SLOW
  • RELAXED
  • CALM
  • GENTLE

...and the spangram was TAKEYOURTIME.

Strands #808

“No rush”

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Hi Strands fans. Kicking myself for using a clue at the end there, as this wasn't too tough - especially with all but two answers found.

The theme of "No rush" quickly led me to LEISURELY spelt backwards up the right-hand side.

As the word "take" was written downwards to its left, I then connected the spangram of TAKEYOURTIME, which isolated PLACID in the bottom-right corner.

SLOW was in the bottom-left corner, and that helped be find a use for the 'X' above it in RELAXED.

I then hit a blank trying to unpick the two remaining answers in the top-left corner. Using a clue revealed CALM, which was blindingly obvious with hindsight. Still, all that left was to connect GENTLE 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.