NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #311 (Wednesday, January 8 2025)

NYT Strands on a cellphone
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide/NY Times/Shutterstock)
Strands today: Quick menu

Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "Time for an upgrade" — is a little bit vague, and you may need a few hints to get started.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #311, 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 #311, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #311.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #311 is... "Time for an upgrade".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Making food prep better".

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

  • LOVE
  • POTTER
  • SOILED
  • PORTED
  • SHUNTED
  • SHINED
  • THERE
  • DEMO

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with K and ends with L.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's KITCHENREMODEL.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #311?

Drumroll, please...

  • OVEN
  • SINK
  • BACKSPLASH
  • COUNTERTOP
  • ISLAND

Strands #311

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was KITCHENREMODEL.

Strands #311

“Time for an upgrade”

💡🔵🟡🔵

🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. Maybe it's because I mainly write about the technology sector, but the theme of "Time for an upgrade" made me think of the two-year upgrade on smartphones, rather than the far rarer home improvement of the kitchen.

That meant I needed a clue to get me started, but when that revealed OVEN, I was off. When I saw the word "kitchen" in the top left, I realized it had to be part of the spangram and duly extended it to spell KITCHENREMODEL.

Now it was just a case of finding bits of the kitchen that could be improved. SINK was on the left-hand side, with BACKSPLASH spelt out along the very bottom of the grid.

COUNTERTOP took up most of the remaining letters, snaking backwards across the middle of the board, and that just left ISLAND to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #310 right here.

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. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.

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