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Today's NYT Strands hints and answer — solutions to game #615, November 8

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

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

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #615.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #615 is... "Knock, knock!"

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Getting inside".

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

  • CRATE
  • NAMES
  • HOLDER
  • DRESSING
  • SINGER
  • ROOTS
  • STORES
  • STREAM

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 'L' and ends with 'N'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...


It's LETMEIN.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #615?

Drumroll, please...

  • DOORWAY
  • GATE
  • PORTAL
  • ENTRANCE
  • THRESHOLD
  • INGRESS

Strands #615

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was LETMEIN.

Strands #615

“Knock, knock!”

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Hi Strands fans. A moderately tricky one, until you get what it's referencing.

At first, I assumed "Knock, knock!" would refer to the classic knock-knock joke. But then I found DOORWAY spreading across the middle of the board. It did, however, turn blue rather than yellow, revealing this wasn't the spangram itself.

Regardless, that didn't stop me thinking along those lines and I found GATE in the top-right corner, followed by the actual spangram of LETMEIN below it. I then located PORTAL and ENTRANCE above it to complete the top half of the board.

The outstanding pair of answers in the bottom half gave me pause however, and I eventually admitted defeat trying to disentangle them. I used a clue which revealed INGRESS on the right - though I actually used this intel to get THRESHOLD to its left first.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #614.

Strands 614

(Image credit: New York Times)
  • SAMBA
  • TANGO
  • SALSA
  • REGGAETON
  • MARIACHI
  • TEJANO

...and the spangram was LATINMUSIC.

Strands #614

“Encuentra el ritmo”

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Hi Strands fans. This was a nasty puzzle for me, as I know precious little about Latin music, which isn't that big on my side of the Atlantic.

It didn't help that I know no Spanish (French or German is typically taught as a second language in British schools), so I had to look up what the theme of "Encuentra el ritmo" meant before I could begin.

It translates as "Find the rhythm", which put me on the right track. I quickly found SAMBA in the top-left corner, followed by TANGO to its right. These helped me get the spangram of LATINMUSIC to split the board in two.

I then spotted SALSA in the bottom-right corner, which helped me find REGGAETON to its left (a genre I have never heard of, but I didn't have much choice with the remaining letters).

I then found MARIACHI in the top-right corner, which left one word to find.

But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what the anagram of TEONAJ meant. A clue would just reveal the letters I already knew I needed, so I just had to keep hammering random combinations until something worked.

Eventually I found it. It was TEJANO, another word that's not part of the British English vocabulary, to cap a very frustrating puzzle.

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.