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 #663, as well as the answers, should it come to that.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #663.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #663 is... "Please hold".
And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Protective packaging".
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- CAKE
- FIGHT
- TEAMS
- BALLET
- LUNG
- CHASE
- SOCKET
- CHEAT
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 'B' and ends with 'Y'.
Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's BOXINGDAY.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #663?
Drumroll, please...
- PIZZA
- LUNCH
- GIFT
- TOOL
- TACKLE
- BALLOT
- MATCH
- SHOE
...and the spangram was BOXINGDAY.
Strands #663
“Please hold”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵
Hi Strands fans. While today's theme isn't especially helpful, the inclusion of an 'X' and two 'Z's certainly is.
Right away, I used the former for the spangram of BOXINGDAY across the middle of the board, and the latter two in PIZZA in the bottom-right corner, and I was away.
What do these two words have in common? Boxes. So I began looking for things associated with that, finding LUNCH in the top-right corner, and GIFT nestled to its left.
I then spotted TOOL and TACKLE immediately underneath the spangram, which allowed me to complete the bottom half with BALLOT.
Two answers were left to locate in the top-left corner. I found MATCH spelt backwards first, which just left SHOE in the gap to finish things up.
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #662.
- PIPERS
- MAIDS
- LORDS
- SWANS
- DRUMMERS
- LADIES
...and the spangram was CHRISTMASDAYS.
Strands #662
“Caroler's count”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵
Hi Strands fans, and Merry Christmas! Appropriately, today's puzzle is about as festive as they come. It's also pretty straightforward, meaning it won't keep you from the festivities for too long.
The theme of "Caroler's count" isn't totally obvious, but I could see the word "Christmas" near the top of the board, and quickly converted that to the spangram of CHRISTMASDAYS.
Then I found the word PIPERS spelt backwards down the right-hand side, and realized this was about The 12 Days of Christmas.
Now it was just a case of ticking off the other days from the song. I found MAIDS just below the spangram on the left-hand side, with LORDS below it. SWANS was to its right.
That left two isolated answers to unpick. DRUMMERS was the anagram in the top-left corner, which just left LADIES in the middle to complete the puzzle.
