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 #643, as well as the answers, should it come to that.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #643 is... "Tolkien's world".
And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Fantasy novel".
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- RIDDLES
- WIDEN
- FAST
- HOBBLES
- RATS
- RIDER
- HOST
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 'M' and ends with 'H'.
Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's MIDDLEEARTH.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #643?
Drumroll, please...
- QUEST
- RING
- SHIRE
- DWARF
- HOBBIT
- WIZARD
- FOREST
...and the spangram was MIDDLEEARTH.
Strands #643
“Tolkien's world”
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Hi Strands fans. I would say that today's puzzle needs some specialist knowledge, but I've never read nor seen Lord of the Rings, and I was still able to get through it without difficulty, using no clues in the process.
That was no doubt helped by me spotting the spangram of MIDDLEEARTH right away. That split the board in two, and made it easy enough to pick up the four words in the bottom half.
QUEST was in the bottom-left corner, with RING a little along from it. That isolated SHIRE to its right and DWARF to its left to complete the section.
The top half wasn't any more taxing. HOBBIT was in the top-right corner, with WIZARD on the opposite side. All that remained was to connect FOREST between the two to complete the puzzle.
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #642.
- BUFFET
- CAFE
- BAKERY
- STEAKHOUSE
- BREWERY
- BISTRO
...and the spangram was DININGOUT.
Strands #642
“Feeling peckish?”
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Hi Strands fans. A deceptively tricky one this. Although I cottoned on to the theme right away, coming up with the last few answers proved surprisingly difficult.
I found BUFFET on the left-hand side to begin with, which created the shape for CAFE below it.
I was then stuck for a while, until I saw BAKERY in the top-right corner. The three answers I'd found made me realize that the spangram was likely to be a vertical affair, which helped me find it: DININGOUT, spelt from top to bottom.
That left three answers to find, and with more letters in the bottom-right corner, I correctly intuited that only one would sit in the top left. I rearranged the letters there to spell STEAKHOUSE.
Now I just had to uncoil the two answers in the remaining block. Eventually I found BREWERY at the bottom (not where I'd go for food, but there we are) which just left BISTRO above it to complete the puzzle.
