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 #869 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 #869, so read on if you need a little help.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #869.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #869 is... "Small talk."
And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Undersized".
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- RUSTY
- TRIM
- TILES
- STILL
- MISTY
- CORNY
- TORN
- COST
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 'I' and ends with 'Y'.
Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's ITSYBITSY.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #869?
Drumroll, please...
- TINY
- LITTLE
- MICROSCOPIC
- MINUSCULE
- MINIATURE
...and the spangram was ITSYBITSY.
Strands #869
“Small talk”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡
Hi Strands fans. A companion puzzle for yesterday's ("Big talk"), only today we were looking at synonyms for small instead.
Sadly, I'm struggling to function in the heat, and this fairly obvious conclusion didn't hit me until I'd wasted a clue. That clue revealed TINY in the top-right corner, leaving me kicking myself.
Still, that got me moving. I found LITTLE on the left-hand side with MICROSCOPIC looping above it.
I then found MINUSCULE in the bottom-left corner, with MINIATURE to its right.
All that left was to connect the spangram of ITSYBITSY running through the middle to complete the puzzle.
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Strands answers for game #868.
- GIANT
- MAMMOTH
- COLOSSUS
- BEHEMOTH
- LEVIATHAN
...and the spangram was SUPERSIZEIT.
Strands #868
“Big talk”
💡🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵
Hi Strands fans. It took me a while to get started with today's puzzle. The theme of "Big talk" had me thinking this was going to literally be about deep conversations, or at least outlandish claims.
Actually, it was neither of those, as revealed by my one and only clue. This highlighted GIANT spelt backwards up the left-hand side.
So I began looking for 'large' synonyms. MAMMOTH was near the bottom of the grid, leaving a gap for the spangram in the left corner. I followed it round and spelled out SUPERSIZEIT.
COLOSSUS was in the gap created by the spangram, and I moved onto the top half where two answers were left. I found BEHEMOTH on the left, leaving LEVIATHAN to to its right to complete the puzzle.
