NYT Strands today – my hints and answers for May 28 (#451)
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Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, May 27 (game #450).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Top contenders
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
TILE
THEN
FILE
SAIL
WINE
SHINE
• Spangram has 12 letters
First side: left, 3rd row
Last side: bottom, 5th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
The answers to today's Strands, game #451, are…
WINNER
CHAMP
TITLEHOLDER
VICTOR
MEDALIST
SPANGRAM: FINISH STRONG
My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect
I got off to a great start today, finding the word DINNER – which immediately led to WINNER. From there it was a fairly straightforward race to victory.
I was convinced TITLEHOLDER was going to be the spangram as I was tapping it out, but that went to the marginally longer FINISH STRONG, which I'm not entirely sure works. You can finish strong and be a loser if you didn't start well in a race, championship or game and equally if you finish badly but started well you can still be a CHAMP.
The reality of becoming a MEDALIST is that the quality that a competitor or team needs the most is consistency, which is why serial winners are often compared to machines.
Before that though, it's important to lose a lot and almost win things, otherwise people will compare you to a robot and no one wants to cheer for a robot.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
FARM
GAMES
ANIMAL
TALE
HUNGER
HANDMAIDS
SPANGRAM: DYSTOPIAN NOVEL
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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