Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #690, January 22
Need help with Strands #690? Here are some hints and the answers
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 #690 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 #690, so read on if you need a little help.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #690.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #690 is... "Ode to joy".
And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Couldn't be better."
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- BOLD
- STAY
- PHONE
- LONE
- VESTS
- THREATS
- CASE
- TALON
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 'S' and ends with 'N'.
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Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's SEVENTHHEAVEN.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #690?
Drumroll, please...
- BLISS
- ECSTASY
- ELATION
- EUPHORIA
- RHAPSODY
...and the spangram was SEVENTHHEAVEN.
Strands #690
“Ode to joy”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵
Hi Strands fans. Nothing too complicated today, though I did at first think this might be about symphonies, rather than the more literal definition of "Ode to joy".
Once I'd concluded this wasn't about Beethoven's work, things became far easier. I found BLISS in the top-left corner, followed by ECSTASY to its right.
I then spotted ELATION and EUPHORIA in the bottom-right corner, which cleared space for the spangram of SEVENTHHEAVEN.
That just left RHAPSODY on the left-hand side to complete the puzzle.
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #689.
- SHOUT
- INTERRUPT
- POINT
- STARE
- BURP
- TEASE
- GLOAT
...and the spangram was DONTBERUDE.
Strands #689
“That's not very polite”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵
Hi Strands fans. Nothing too tricky today. "That's not very polite" clearly points at rudeness, and I could in fact see the word "rude" near the bottom of the board.
I guessed that was part of the spangram, but couldn't connect it, so began looking for words associated with rudeness. I found SHOUT in the bottom-left corner, followed by INTERRUPT on the opposite side. POINT and STARE were directly above it.
These, combined with BURP on the left-hand side, made the spangram route clear. I connected DONTBERUDE to leave two answers in the top-left corner.
Splitting them up was easy enough. TEASE was at the bottom with GLOAT above it to complete the puzzle.
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.

