Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answer and Help for Nov. 18, #260

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Connections puzzles.

Strands doesn’t get as much attention as its New York Times game siblings Wordle and Connections, but it can be just as challenging and entertaining. Strands just moved out of beta, so it’s now in the New York Times’ official Games app, which might bring it more fans. I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

How to play NYT Strands

1. Use today’s theme to look for words relating to that topic. See one? Drag or click the letters in order. Click on the last letter twice to submit your guess. If you’ve found a theme word, it’ll light up in blue and stay that way.

2. Other words you find are considered hint words that give you clues to the theme words. Find three hint words (they must have at least four letters each) and the game will reward you by showing you a theme word. But if you can’t unscramble it, find three more hint words and the game will highlight the theme word’s letters in order.

3. Hunt for the spangram, a special theme word that spans the entire puzzle, though it could flow across or top to bottom. It summarizes the puzzle theme.

4. When you’re done, you’ll have used every letter on the board in either a theme word or spangram. Theme words fill the entire board and do not overlap. 

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Coming up for air.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: In the water.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• READ, REAL, MEAL, PEAS, PEAL, PEALS, MELD, MELDS, HOLD, MEAN, HELD, MOLE, MAMMAL, MAMMALS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• ORCA, SEAL, WALRUS, DOLPHIN, MANATEE, NARWHAL

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is MARINE MAMMALS. To find it, start with the M that’s the very last letter in the far right column, and wind up.