Daily New York Times Reveals Clues and Solution for Puzzle on May 6, 2025
Rewritten Article:
Hey there, puzzle solver! If you're on the hunt for hints and answers for Strands on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, you're in the right place! I'll be dropping some clues and solving strategies, and finally, the solution to this ear-themed challenge.
While you're here, go ahead and bookmark this page for easy access to our Strands hints every day. You'll also find our past clues if you want to catch up on some missed puzzles.
Let's dive into some sneaky hints for today's Strands answers!
Hint for the Strands spangram
Think about jewelry that requires a piercing and healing time.
Hint for the Strands theme words
Consider specific types of ear jewelry you might hang from a lobe or other parts of the ear.
But beware! Spoilers are coming up for today's Strands puzzle!
We're about to reveal the answers to the challenge.
What is the Strands spangram?
Today's spangram is EARRINGS.
What are the Strands theme words?
The theme words today are TEARDROP, HOOP, CUFF, STUD, CLIPON, CHANDELIER, and PLUG.
Here's what the completed board looks like:
How I solved today's Strands
When I saw "lobe," I first thought about the different lobes of the brain-frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal. However, a neurology exam left me focusing too much on brain lobes. But then it hit me – "lobe" must be referring to ear lobes! Earrings are items placed in lobes, and that's exactly what the spangram is. That makes much more sense than brain lobes!
The STUD is in the bottom left corner. 🔵
CUFF is above STUD. 🔵
HOOP is above CUFF. 🔵
TEARDROP is in the upper left corner. 🔵
CHANDELIER hugs the right side of the spangram. 🔵
PLUG is in the bottom right corner. 🔵
Lastly, CLIPON. 🔵
How to play Strands
Find the NYT Strands game on their website or in the NYT Games app.
When you start playing, you'll encounter a game board filled with letters, accompanied by a clever hint that gives a glimpse of the puzzle's theme – like "Better with age." Your task is to uncover the hidden words within the board that align with the puzzle's theme.
A crossword meets a word search!
The primary word to discover is the "spangram," a word more explicitly demonstrating the puzzle's theme. For example, the spangram for a puzzle with the theme "Better with age" is FERMENTED, a word that describes products that, yes, you guessed it, get better with age. The spangram will stretch the entire game board, either horizontally or vertically (hence the name). When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted in yellow. Solving the spangram usually makes the rest of the puzzle a breeze.
In Strands, words can travel in any direction (up, down, left, right, or diagonally) and will only use each letter once. There's only one correct solution. When you properly identify a puzzle's word (like KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If you're having trouble solving the puzzle, you can submit any non-theme words you see (as long as they are four letters or more) to get credit towards a single hint. If you submit three non-theme words, the "Hint" button will become clickable; if you click it, all of the letters in one of the theme words will be highlighted for you. You'll still need to connect these highlighted letters in the correct order to form a theme word. If there is already a hint on the board and you use another hint before solving for that word, that word's letter order will be revealed.
How to win Strands
Unlike Connections and Wordle, you cannot lose at Strands. When you submit guesses, you'll either correctly identify an answer, receive credit towards a hint, or watch the text oscillate from side to side, signifying that the word you submitted is too short or invalid. You'll never run out of guesses, and there's no time limit.
You win when you've used all the letters on the board, meaning you've discovered the spangram and all of the theme words. Just like other NYT games, upon solving the puzzle, you'll be shown a shareable card showcasing your performance that day: blue dots indicate theme words you've found, the yellow dot indicates when you found the spangram, and a lightbulb signifies words that you received a hint for.
[1] Strands – Official NYTimes Games Website: https://www.nytimes.com/games/word/games/strands[2] Strands – Official NYTimes Games App: https://www.nytimes.com/games/iphone/apps/strands[3] Strands Solve Guide – PuzzleNation Blog: https://www.puzzlenation.com/blog/strands-solve-guide/[4] Strands Events Calendar 2020-2023: https://www.puzzlenation.com/events/strands/[5] Strands FAQ: https://www.nytimes.com/help/siteinfo/faq/games/strands-faq.html
- The hint for the Strands spangram suggests considering jewelry that requires piercing, such as earrings, which sounded like a race against time to find the perfect pair for a lobe since the bookmarked Strands page announced today's theme is ear-themed jewelry.
- In the Strands spangram, the TEARDROP is in the upper left corner, while the PLUG is in the bottom right corner, ensuring that the ear lobes are adorned with various styles for tonight's entertainment.
- By 2025, I can foresee myself revisiting this page, as it serves as a treasure trove of Strands clues and solutions, helping to enrich my library of knowledge on the intricate world of earrings – the ultimate bookmark for spectators of this addictive word game.
- Be sure to enjoy tonight's entertainment, as we have successfully identified the Strands spangram (EARRINGS) and theme words (TEARDROP, HOOP, CUFF, STUD, CLIPON, CHANDELIER, and PLUG), giving us a fantastic opportunity to show off our newly acquired puzzle-solving skills in real-life parties and gatherings as we break the ice in conversations about ear jewelry.
