NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #439 (Friday, May 16 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 — "To a degree" — isn't too cryptic, but may still require some lateral thinking to get started.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #439, 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 #439, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #439.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #439 is... "To a degree".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Education celebration".

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

  • PRESS
  • PLOT
  • DICE
  • SINS
  • RACES
  • SWAT

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

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's GRADUATION.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #439?

Drumroll, please...

  • DIPLOMA
  • GOWN
  • PHOTO
  • SPEECH
  • TASSEL
  • PROCESSION

Strands #439

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was GRADUATION.

Strands #439

“To a degree”

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Hi Stands fans. Today's theme - "To a degree" - is clearly about education, but I wasn't exactly sure how right away.

I found DIPLOMA pretty quickly in the top-left corner, but then spent my time looking for other education awards like "doctorate".

Eventually, I found GOWN in the bottom-right corner and realized this was about GRADUATION - the spangram written from the bottom-left corner to the top right.

In the U.K, where I graduated longer ago than I like to think about, we don't go in for big graduation day ceremonies, so I was at a bit of a loss. Thankfully, the spangram had cordoned off a couple of easy answers: PHOTO on the left-hand side and SPEECH at the top of the board.

But after those two were found, I still needed to use a clue to seperate my final two answers, which were fused together in the bottom-right segment. The clue revealed TASSEL, and that just left me to decode the remaining letters into PROCESSION to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #438 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. 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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