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Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #719, February 20

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Need help with Strands #719? 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 #719 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #719.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #719 is... "True grit."

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Smoothing things over".

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

  • SCARES
  • CAPER
  • VASE
  • CARS
  • SHEAR
  • PANDA
  • LATER
  • ROVER

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 'S' and ends with 'R'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's SANDPAPER.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #719?

Drumroll, please...

  • PRICKLY
  • SCRATCHY
  • ABRASIVE
  • HARSH
  • COURSE
  • ROUGH

Strands #719

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was SANDPAPER.

Strands #719

“True grit”

🔵🟡🔵🔵

🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. I think today's puzzle is actually rather tricky and I lucked out a bit, without having to resort to clues.

That's because I saw PRICKLY on the left-hand side when looking for clue words. When it was proved to be an answer, I looked above it and was able to connect SANDPAPER from the top-left corner to the right-hand side. That, in turn, isolated SCRATCHY in the top-right.

So this was clearly a puzzle filled with words describing sandpaper, which made it easier. I quickly found ABRASIVE below the end of the spangram with HARSH below it in the bottom-right corner.

That left two words to find on the left-hand side. COARSE was in the bottom-left corner, with ROUGH above it to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #718.

Strands #718

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • HYPOTHESIS
  • IDEA
  • CONCEPT
  • NOTION
  • POSTULATE
  • THEORY

...and the spangram was EUREKA.

Strands #718

“Here's a thought”

🔵🔵🔵🟡

💡🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. I think today's puzzle would have been tricky if I hadn't lucked out and seen one of the longest words right away.

That was HYPOTHESIS in the top half of the grid, and it was laid out in such a way that four letters were isolated in the top-left corner, giving me my second answer of IDEA immediately.

CONCEPT was to the right, and I then saw the spangram of EUREKA spelt out underneath the three.

But this strong start came to an abrupt halt, as I couldn't see any more answers in the bottom half, and had to use a clue to get moving again.

It gave me NOTION on the right-hand side, which then allowed me to get POSTULATE in an 'L' shape around the left corner. All that was left was to connect THEORY 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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