NYT Unveils Clues and Solution for Friday's Crossword Puzzle, April 18, 2025
ready to conquer today's Strands puzzle on April 18, 2025 with themes revolving around the board? bookmark this page for easy access, where you'll find previous solutions too!
here's a few subtle hints to help crack the code:1. Moveable items used in popular tabletop games like dice and cards, typically moving across a foldable board.2. Examples from popular board games such as Monopoly or chess like tiles, checkers, knights, and tokens.
beware of the following spoilers for today's Strands puzzle:
the spangram for the day's puzzle is GAMEPIECES. and the theme words are DOMINO, BATTLESHIP, TILE, CHECKER, TOKEN, and KNIGHT. check out the board when the puzzle is solved:
i'm unsure where to take this puzzle, as "on the board" could refer to wooden boards or governing boards.
KNIGHT seems to be a theme word, as it's connected to the theme. my guess is that it might be a government board or a board in a game featuring knights.
i stumble upon the word TILE, which seems to connect as well. could it be a board game like chess?
there's CHECKERS down left, but it's not a theme word, probably part of the spangram. there's also GAME along the right edge, but it doesn't seem to connect with CHECKERS.
BATTLESHIP seems like a hit as well.
i see that GAME leads to GAMEPIECES, which aligns with the theme.
a single CHECKER seems to be a hit as well.
TOKEN seems to connect, and lastly, DOMINO as a theme word.
playground for Strands
head to the New York Times website or download the NYT Games app to start slaying the Strands game. when you start a game, you'll see a board filled with letters and a hint for the theme, like "Power moves." your job is to find hidden theme-related words within the board.
the spangram, a word that specifically expresses the puzzle's theme (example: "Fermented" for the theme "better with age"), must be found first, highlighted in yellow. once you uncover the spangram, chances are you'll uncover the rest of the puzzle.
Strands has unique aspects, unlike other games. words move diagonally, horizontally, and vertically, and you'll only use each letter once on the board, with only one solution. upon correctly guessing a theme word, it'll be highlighted in blue. if you're struggling, submit non-theme words to earn hints. if you submit three non-theme words, you can click the "Hint" button to reveal a hidden letter for one theme word.
can't fail Strands
unlike Wordle and Connections, there's no way to lose Strands. when submitting guesses, they'll be either accepted, earn credit toward a hint, or the board will shake, signaling that your guess is too short or invalid. you can't run out of guesses, and there's no time limit.
you win when you've used all letters on the board, meaning clues for the theme words and the spangram have been uncovered. like other NYT games, a shareable card is shown after a puzzle is solved, showing how well you performed that day with blue dots indicating theme words, a yellow dot for the spangram, and a lightbulb for hinted words.
[1] https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/2842/what-are-some-games-that-are-called-board-games-but-are-not-traditional-board[2] https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/242019/whats-deepest-connection-between-checkers-and-chess[3] https://www.chess.com/article/view/checkers-and-chess-a-history[4] https://www.backgroundchecks.org/blog/2017/06/30/domino-history-naming-meaning/[5] https://www.britannica.com/topic/battleship-board-game
- Today's Strands puzzle, set on April 18, 2025, revolves around board games, as hinted by the themes of DOMINO, BATTLESHIP, TILE, CHECKER, TOKEN, and KNIGHT.
- Strands players might find the solution more accessible by consulting the New York Times (NYT) website or downloading the NYT Games app, where they can encounter game boards and theme-related words.
- In the Strands game, a player's aim is to find hidden words thematically connected to the day's puzzle, such as GAMEPIECES, with words moving diagonally, horizontally, and vertically on the board.
- The theme word DOMINO serves as a game piece in this Strands puzzle, linking it to board games like chess, as alluded to in the hint, "on the board."
