Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #745, March 18

NYT Strands on a cellphone
(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 #745 as well as the answers, should it come to that.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #745.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #745 is... "It follows".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Second half of the word."

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

  • FOLDS
  • COCOA
  • NOSE
  • CLOSE
  • LOSES
  • LEFT
  • ACHE
  • PREYS

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 'A' and ends with 'E'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...


It's AFTERLIFE.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #745?

Drumroll, please...

  • STYLE
  • HACK
  • BLOOD
  • PRESERVER
  • CYCLE
  • COACH
  • LESSON

Strands #745

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was AFTERLIFE.

Strands #745

“It follows”

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Hi Strands fans. Today's puzzle was really tough. Even with the spangram in place, it took me a while to figure out what I was actually looking at: many of my answers were guesswork.

So in a slight break from my usual style, I'm going to explain the puzzle before showing the steps I took. The 'it' that the theme of "It follows" refers to is "life". All the answers can come after the word "life" to make longer words.

I found my first answer without help, spotting STYLE in the top-right corner. This didn't help much, and I found myself two clues, which revealed HACK and BLOOD, both at the bottom of the board.

This left me none the wiser, but these two together made a clear path so I worked backwards to find the spangram of AFTERLIFE.

After that, the answers came thick and fast. I found PRESERVER in the gap along the left-hand side, with CYCLE above it to complete the half.

That left two answers to find on the right-hand side. COACH was at the top, with LESSON below it to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #744.

Strands #744

(Image credit: Alan Martin)
  • GODDESS
  • FLAG
  • THUMB
  • PEPPER
  • LIGHT
  • BERET
  • PARTY
  • ROOM

...and the spangram was GOGREEN.

Strands #744

“Happy Saint Patrick's Day!”

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Hi Strands fans. At first I thought this was going to be to do with things directly related to Saint Patrick's Day, hence me finding the word "green" right away. When that failed, I expanded it by two letters to spell the spangram of GOGREEN.

That revealed this wasn't directly about the day itself, but a word association game about green things.

I duly found GODDESS along the bottom of the board, with FLAG and the top and THUMB to its right. All of these were in fetching alternate shades of green, just to hammer home the point.

I then found PEPPER just above GODDESS, LIGHT in the top half and BERET in the top-right corner to finish the top segment.

Two words were left to unpick in the bottom-right quadrant. PARTY was on the right, which just left ROOM spelt backwards to complete an enjoyable little 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.