NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #429 (Tuesday, May 6 2025)

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

Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "I'm in lobe" — is a bit tricky to decode.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #429, 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 #429, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #429.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #429 is... "I'm in lobe".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Specific jewelery".

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

  • POOR
  • DRONE
  • PHONE
  • ACRE
  • GULP
  • ANGER
  • SCOPING

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with E and ends with S.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's EARRINGS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #429?

Drumroll, please...

  • CUFF
  • STUD
  • PLUG
  • HOOP
  • TEARDROP
  • CLIPON
  • CHANDELIER

Strands #429

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was EARRINGS

Strands #429

“I'm in lobe”

💡🔵🔵🔵

🔵🔵💡🔵

🔵🟡

Hi Strands fans. This was an infuriating game of trial and error for me, as someone who has never shopped for EARRINGS before!

I had to use a clue to get started, which revealed CUFF. I saw STUD below it, and those combined to make me realize this was about types of earring.

Unfortunately, I don't really know any names for earrings, so the rest of the puzzle was a tedious game of connecting letters that could plausibly describe kinds of jewelery.

I found HOOP above my two existing words, and then PLUG on the opposite side of the board. TEARDROP was a good one, taking up the entire top-left corner.

But after that I was stumped, and needed to use another clue which revealed CLIPON in the top right. That cleared enough space for me to get CHANDERLIER from top to bottom.

All that was left was for me to connect the spangram of EARRINGS written backwards from bottom to top. I don't know how I missed this before, given I spent much of my early time looking for the word "ear", but better late than never I suppose...

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #428 right here.

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. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.