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Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #685, January 17

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Need help with Strands #685? Here are some hints and the answers

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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 #685 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #685.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #685 is... "That's putting it mildly!"

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Archaic frustration."

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

  • NOON
  • SOILED
  • PACKS
  • HACKS
  • SACKS
  • POINT
  • AHOY
  • AGES

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 'F' and ends in 'N'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's FOILEDAGAIN.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #685?

Drumroll, please...

  • DRAT
  • FIDDLESTICKS
  • CURSES
  • PHOOEY
  • TARNATION

Strands #685

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was FOILEDAGAIN.

Strands #685

“That's putting it mildly!”

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Hi Strands fans. A slightly tricky one today, given all the answers are, by design, somewhat old fashioned and archaic.

That meant I needed to use a clue to get started. It revealed DRAT in the bottom-right corner, which put me on the right course, finding FIDDLESTICKS directly above it.

I then found the spangram of FOILEDAGAIN in a reverse-L shape from the bottom-left corner to the top of the grid.

Three answers were left to find. CURSES seemed to go naturally with the spangram, so I found it first directly above. I then spotted PHOOEY above that, which just left TARNATION to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #684.

Strands #684

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • JOKER
  • CAPE
  • ROBIN
  • PENGUIN
  • JUSTICE
  • VENGEANCE
  • MANOR

...and the spangram was BATMAN.

Strands #684

“DC crusader”

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Hi Strands fans. Another easy one today, even if the answers are a weird selection of villains and words loosely associated with the Dark Knight.

With the theme of "DC crusader", this was clearly going to be about BATMAN, which I found across the board near the top.

JOKER was the obvious next answer, which was directly above, leaving CAPE and ROBIN either side.

The bottom half began with another villain on the left-hand side (PENGUIN), before moving into more tenuously associated words like JUSTICE on the right and VENGEANCE near the top. That just left MANOR between the two to complete the puzzle.

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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