NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, October 6 (game #217)

Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Strands expert

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #1 – today’s theme

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #2 – clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• LATE
• GLADE
• BLADE
• NICK
• CHICK
• TOAST

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #3 – spangram

NYT Strands today (game #217) – hint #4 – spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #217) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #217, are…

• BACON
• CHICKEN
• TOMATO
• VINAIGRETTE
• GREENS
• EGGS
• SPANGRAM: COBBSALAD

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

I presume there might be a split between people in the US and those in the rest of the world here. Or maybe it’s only me that had not really heard of a COBBSALAD and therefore struggled to solve this one. I was also very confused by the theme clue of ‘Got any bleu cheese?’, which made me think it was something French – because otherwise why is it spelled ‘bleu’ and not ‘blue’. So the whole thing was a bit baffling.

I solved it in the end, but it was really just a case of trial and error. I spotted BACON early on, and CHICKEN too, so I realized it was a food-themed puzzle. The others took me a while to find, and getting the spangram was entirely based on there being nothing else it could be by the time that I got it. Not the most satisfying game for me – though if you know and like Cobb Salad (which to me sounds disgusting) then maybe you’ll have been fine with it. Ho hum.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday 5 October, game #216)

• SHAM
• FAKE
• QUACK
• PHONY
• HOAK
• CHARLATAN
• HUMBUG
• SPANGRAM: THATSUNREAL

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He’s also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).