Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #781, April 23

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 #781 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 #781, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #781.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #781 is... "Provinces of the pantheon".

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

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

• ROMA
• MIRAGE
• RAMEN
• HEAVES
• DOTS
• THUD
• WHIRS
• MAILS

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 'D' and ends in 'N'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's DOMAIN.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #781?

Drumroll, please...

• UNDERWORLD
• THUNDER
• WISDOM
• HARVEST
• MARRIAGE
• LOVE

...and the spangram was DOMAIN.

Strands #781

“Provinces of the pantheon”

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Hi Strands fans. Somewhat surprised I got through this one without using a clue, as even now I can't give you a succinct definition of what the puzzle is about. Domains of Gods and Goddesses in mythology, broadly?

In any case, I found UNDERWORLD appropriately at the very bottom of the board, and began thinking along those lines. I found THUNDER in the top-left corner, with WISDOM to its right.

I then connected the spangram of DOMAIN across the board from left to right, which left HARVEST to connect in the gap above.

Two answers were left to find in the gap below the spangram. MARRIAGE was at the bottom, and that just left LOVE spelt backwards above it to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #780.

• REUSE
• REDUCE
• RECYCLE
• REPAIR
• DONATE
• REFILL

...and the spangram was CONSERVATION.

Strands #780

“Earth Day”

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Hi Strands fans. With hindsight this seems obvious, but I thought the theme of "Earth Day" might be a red herring. Rather than being about conservation, I figured it might be related to different geographical elements.

After unsuccessfully going down that rabbit hole for a while, I eventually used a clue. It uncovered REUSE on the left-hand side of the board, which revealed it wasn't a red herring at all.

Thankfully, I remember the three 'R's, so the next two were easy enough. REDUCE was in the top-left corner, and RECYCLE was on the opposite side. These combined helped me to connect the spangram between the three: CONSERVATION.

Another 'R' word was next, and I spotted REPAIR in the bottom-right corner. I then found DONATE to its left, which just left REFILL in the bottom-left corner to complete the puzzle.