Sunday Crossword Puzzle Solutions and Clues for May 11, 2025 - New York Times
Rewritten Article:
REJOICE, STRANDS SOLVERS! Today's Strands puzzle holds a heartwarming theme to celebrate a remarkable day. Here's your guide, embracing a familiar spirit - let's crack this Mother's Day-themed cryptogram!
For an effortless revisit of daily Strands challenges, remember to bookmark this page! You'll find past puzzles here too, in case you've missed a hint or two!
Now, let me twitch your curiosity! I present you with deliberately veiled clues to today's Strands answers. A sneak peek into the revelations in store lies ahead, but if you're ready to unveil the Solutions to the Puzzle, with love in the air, crack on!
Whispers of the Spangram in today's Strands puzzle
The festivity of the day is in view.
Secrets of the theme words in today's Strands puzzle
Gifts of affection flowering for the star of Mother's Day.
(BEWARE: Mother's Day Puzzle Solutions ahead!)
We're about to present the answers to today's Strands puzzle, filled with warmth and love!
What illuminates the Spangram in today's Strands?
The Spangram today gleams as MOTHERSDAY.
What makes the theme words in today's Strands twinkle?
The guiding stars today are FLOWERS, CARDS, DRAWINGS, BREAKFAST, PARTY, and HUGS.
Behold the sight of the board enlightened, once the puzzle is complete:
How I unraveled today's Strands
Strands adores holiday-driven puzzles, and today seems like Mother's Day-themed!
Indeed, the light guides us with MOTHERSDAY laid across the board. 🟡
FLOWERS tickles the upper left. 🔵 All right, expect popular Mother's Day gifts for the theme words.
CARDS rests underneath FLOWERS. 🔵
DRAWINGS hugs the bottom left corner. 🔵
BREAKFAST emerges in the upper right corner. 🔵
HUGS whispers in the bottom right corner. 🔵
Last but not least, PARTY appears. 🔵
The Game Expressway - How to play Strands
Seek out the Strands game on the New York Times website and the NYT Games app.
As you embark on your Strands adventure, you'll find a gameboard adorned with a multitude of letters and a clue leading to the board's theme - this will be a phrase, for instance, "Forever charming." Your mission is to unravel the hidden words within the board that reflect the puzzle's theme.
A crossword meets a word search
The leitmotif to keep searching for is the "Spangram," a word that embodies the puzzle's theme. (For example, the Spangram for a puzzle with the theme "Forever charming" is CHARISMATIC.) The Spangram will span the entire game board, traveling either from left to right or top to bottom. When you locate the Spangram, it will be highlighted in yellow. Identifying the Spangram will usually streamline the rest of the puzzle.
In Strands, words can roam any direction (up, down, left, right, or diagonally), and you will only utlize each letter once. There's only one correct solution. Once you've correctly identified one of the puzzle's words (for example, KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If you've hit a wall with the puzzle, you have the option to submit any non-theme words you see (as long as they are four letters or more) to claim credit toward a single hint. If you submit three non-theme words, the "Hint" button will become active. Upon clicking the button, a set of letters associated with one of the theme words will become highlighted for you. Granted, you'll still need to connect these highlighted letters in the right order to compile one of the theme words. If there already is a hint on the board and you use another hint before solving for that word, the letter sequence for that word will be revealed to you.
How to reap victory in Strands
Unlike Connections and Wordle, you cannot make a mistake in Strands. The moment you submit guesses, you may either correctly identify an answer, earn credit toward a hint, or the text will tremble, signaling an incorrect or incomplete answer. Your chances are limitless, and there is no time constraint.
You WIN, as in other NYT games, when you've skillfully uncovered the Spangram and all the theme words, making use of all the board's letters. In honor of your achievement, you will be presented with a shareable card showcasing how you fared on that day: blue dots 🔵 mark theme words discovered, a yellow dot 🟡 signifies the moment you found the Spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 denotes the words for which you received a hint.
[1] https://www.america.com/content/america/en/features/2021/may/what-is-mothers-day-its-origins-history-and-traditions/[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mothers-day-cards-history/[3] https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/power-women/chapter-2/lesson-10-encourage-others[4] https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/celebrating-mothers-day-healthy-lifestyle/[5] https://www.insider.com/disney-mothers-day-greeting-cards-2020-3 (Not directly about the tradition but offers charming Mother's Day-themed greeting cards from Disney which may inspire readers.)
- The New York Times Strands puzzle today is themed around Mother's Day, a remarkable day, with solutions containing elements of entertainment like cards, drawings, and gifts like flowers.
- If you're a regular solver of the Strands puzzle, don't forget to bookmark this page for easy access to today's and previous puzzles.
- Probably, the Spangram in today's Strands puzzle is hidden as 'cae1f81445c16143a5a5e1e13d645153', but to unveil the full theme words, you'll need to explore social media to find hints and engage with fellow solvers.
- Sunday might be the perfect day to immerse yourself in the heartwarming Strands puzzle, celebrate Mother's Day, and mark the day with a bookmark!
