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Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #697, January 29

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Need help with Strands #697? Here are some hints and the answers

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(Image credit: Tom’s Guide/NY Times/Shutterstock)
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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 #697 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #697.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #697 is... "Talk of the town".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Their 15 minutes of..."

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

  • START
  • STARES
  • COIN
  • STAIRS
  • HELPER
  • LAIRS
  • SNORE

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 'C' and ends with 'E'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's CLAIMTOFAME.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #697?

Drumroll, please...

  • HERO
  • CELEBRITY
  • ICON
  • PERSONALITY
  • SUPERSTAR

Strands #697

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was CLAIMTOFAME.

Strands #697

“Talk of the town”

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Hi Strands fans. A slightly tricky one today, given the broadness of the topic: fame and celebrity.

I needed a clue to get me started, and it revealed HERO. I might well have been stuck there, if I hadn't seen the twisty anagram making CELEBRITY in the bottom-left corner, which made the theme of the puzzle that bit clearer.

I then located ICON in the bottom-right corner, followed by PERSONALITY between my two answers on the left-hand side.

I finally spotted SUPERSTAR in the top-right corner. All that was left was to reorder the remaining letters into the spangram. It was, of course, CLAIMTOFAME.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #696.

Strands #696

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • FOCUS
  • RELAX
  • BREATHE
  • LISTEN
  • NOTICE
  • MEDITATE

...and the spangram was MINDFULNESS.

Strands #696

“Zen state”

💡🔵💡🔵

🟡🔵🔵🔵

🔵

Hi Strands fans. I was a bit slow out of the blocks this morning. Perhaps I need to take the puzzle's advice and meditate.

I ended up using two clues to get started. These revealed FOCUS and RELAX along the top, which left a neat gap for the spangram of MINDFULNESS to divide the board in two.

On the right-hand side, I found BREATHE towards the bottom and LISTEN above, leaving two answers to find on the opposite segment.

Ironically, it took me a while to notice NOTICE at the bottom of the grid. But when I did, I was left with the most obvious answer of all to complete the puzzle: MEDITATE.

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.

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