Daily New York Times Puzzle Solutions and Clues for Monday, May 12, 2025
Alright, buddy, let's dive into today's Strands puzzle hints for May 12, 2025 – themed "A Little Respect." Here's the lowdown:
- Quick Bookmark: To keep up with our daily Strands hints, remember to bookmark this page or check out our past solutions if you've missed any previous puzzles.
- Oblique Hints for today's Strands answers:
- Hint for the spangram: A street cred phrase, you know – credibility among the people (('STREET', 'CRED')).
- Hint for the theme words: Words that shape your rep or standing, but remember, it ain't always sunny – good and bad impacts (STATURE, NAME, CHARACTER, REPUTATION, STANDING).
- Spoilers ahead: We're about to reveal the answers. Proceed at your own risk, partner!
- What is the spangram? Today's spangram is STREETCRED.
- What are the theme words? STATURE, NAME, CHARACTER, REPUTATION, STANDING.
- Solving Strands breakdown:
- The Aretha Franklin tune playing in my head... ah, hell no – that ain't the answer. But ARETHA's in the game.
- STREET cuts across the grid, but it's not a theme word.
- There's a host of non-theme words scattered around: CHARRED, STAIN, STING, MEAN, TRUST, TRUE, NATION, RATION, CHEAT, START.
- Several breaks in the action. St Andrew’s cross right in the middle.
- Finally, a hit! I found STANDING in the bottom right corner. That's probably "in good standing," meaning we’re looking for words related to respect and reputation.
- REPUTATION in the bottom left corner.
- CHARACTER in the top right corner.
- The vertical line? That's the spangram – STREETCRED.
- STATURE in the upper right corner.
- Lastly, NAME.
- How to play Strands:
- Find the Strands game on the New York Times website or in the NYT Games app.
- The game features letters, a clue hinting at the theme (e.g., "Better with age").
- Locate theme words by moving vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.
- The spangram spans the entire board and will be highlighted in yellow.
- Find words using all letters on the board, and if you're stumped, submit non-theme words to receive hints.
- There are no failures in Strands; simply keep trying until you solve the puzzle.
- Upon completion, you'll receive a shareable card depicting your performance (blue dots for found theme words, yellow for finding the spangram, and a lightbulb for hints received).
Entertainment options for tonight might include delving into a good book or solving puzzles such as the Strands game found on the New York Times website or in the NYT Games app, themed "A Little Respect." For those seeking additional challenges in their entertainment, they may want to try deciphering the spangram: STREETCRED, and finding words related to reputation and status like STATURE, REPUTATION, CHARACTER, STANDING, and NAME in the game.
