Today's NYT Strands hints and answer: solutions to game #722, February 22

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

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #721.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #721 is... "Olympics wrap-up."

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "The final spectacle".

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

DEAL
MATH
MONEY
GRAINY
GOAL
CLAN
ROAD
FINE
MALE

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 'C' and ends with 'Y'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's CLOSINGCEREMONY.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #721?

Drumroll, please...

ANTHEM
MEDAL
ATHLETE
FLAG
PARADE
FLAME

...and the spangram was CLOSINGCEREMONY.

Strands #721

“Olympics wrap-up”

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Hi Strands fans. My heart sank when I saw this was a third Winter Olympics themed puzzle, having watched none of it. But even I managed to make it through without any clues, so there should be hope for everyone.

That was helped by me realizing that the Olympics is capped by the CLOSINGCEREMONY, which was the spangram spelt from bottom to top of the board (I think maybe in the shape of the flame? Or perhaps a medal with a ribbon?).

I then brainstormed what kind of things this might entail, having never watched one. ANTHEMs seemed likely, and I found that in the bottom corner. MEDALs, too, which was immediately above it. And you can't forget the ATHLETEs themselves - the final answer on the right-hand side.

Moving onto the left-hand side, I found FLAG in the bottom corner, with PARADE spelt upwards to its right. That just left FLAME in the top-left to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #720.

Strands #720 — (Image credit: Alan Martin)

HOPS
MALT
WATER
YEAST
FLAVOR
WHEAT
SUGAR
BARLEY

...and the spangram was HOMEBREW.

Strands #720

“The beer necessities”

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Hi Strands fans. No great mystery here, with the theme of "The beer necessities" sacrificing mystery for a truly excellent pun.

The only detective work required was ruling out that this was not about different kinds of beer, and I initially found myself looking for words like "lager". But when I found HOPS in the bottom-left corner, it became obvious this was instead about the raw ingredients that go into a beer.

I racked my brains and thought of some in no particular order. MALT was halfway up the left-hand side, with WATER above it.

I then found YEAST in the top-right corner, which created a path down the middle for the spangram of HOMEBREW.

I connected the letters in the one remaining gap on the left-hand side to spell FLAVOR, and was then on the hunt for three missing ingredients on the right.

WHEAT was spelt backwards near the top, with SUGAR directly below it. That just left BARLEY in the bottom-right corner to complete a rather fun 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.