Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #774, April 16

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 #774 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 #774, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #774.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #774 is... "This is not working".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Downtime pleasures."

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

• TAILS
• MAPS
• INJURES
• OBIT
• SPATS
• PASTE
• LINES
• RABBIT

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 'J' and ends with 'N'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's JUSTFORFUN.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #774?

Drumroll, please...

• HOBBY
• RECREATION
• PASTIME
• INTEREST
• SIDELINE

...and the spangram was JUSTFORFUN.

Strands #774

“This is not working”

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Hi Strands fans. Only six answers to find today, including the spangram. That means long words only, which usually spells trouble, especially when the theme of "This is not working" meant nothing to me.

I was kicking myself after using a clue that revealed HOBBY, however. Of course! Hobbies - the opposite of working!

I was then able to get the spangram of JUSTFORFUN spelt diagonally from the top-left corner and back on itself, and I was away.

RECREATION was the one remaining answer to find in the top half, and I then found PASTIME spelt backwards in the middle of the bottom half.

I'd already connected the word "inter" for my list of clues, but deleted it when I realized it was part of INTEREST. That just left SIDELINE spelt backwards from the bottom-right corner to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #773.

• OPAL
• TOPAZ
• DIAMOND
• GARNET
• PERIDOT
• TURQUOISE

...and the spangram was BIRTHSTONE.

Strands #773

“Gift of the month”

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Hi Strands fans. This was always going to be an uphill struggle for me. Not only do I know nothing about birthstones (mine is emerald, apparently), but I managed to misread the theme as "Gift of the mouth" rather than "Gift of the month".

That meant I wasted a lot of time looking for synonyms for talkativeness before I eventually gave up and used a clue. When it revealed OPAL at the top of the grid, I realized my mistake, and promptly connected the spangram of BIRTHSTONE from the middle of the left-hand side to the bottom-right corner.

Now I just had to think of possible stones. I found TOPAZ isolated in the top-left corner, and then looked for DIAMOND as I assumed it was one. Sure enough, it was there in the bottom-left corner.

After that, I was stuck again, and had to use another clue which revealed GARNET - not something I would have got in a million years. That also applies to the other word in the bottom half, which I was only able to get because it was in a straight line with no alternatives: PERIDOT.

That just left the anagram in the top-right corner to unpick. It was, of course, TURQUOISE.