Solving today's NYT Strands required me to rethink the theme and approach the puzzle from different angles multiple times, even after I found the Spangram. It's one of the few recent themes where identifying the Spangram as the first word isn't hard if you think about it.

The best approach to playing May 3 NYT Strands is to find any three letters in the grid to get a clue for the first word. Look closely at the letters and connect four or more in any direction, not necessarily in a row, to score if the word is on theme, or to get one-third of a clue if it is not on theme. Get three clues and the game will show you a set of letters that make up one word in the solution, though you still have to find the right way to connect them to make a valid word. If you find a word that goes from left to right or top to bottom, that is the Spangram, which is a second clue that clarifies the theme, since all the other words are associated with it in some way. This was my approach, and I eventually found the Spangram before unlocking the first clue.

I first guessed "hints" to fill my hint bar, since it was the first word I saw. Then I decided to stick with the theme and look for words that had to do with shadows or colors, because of the hint "shadow". I couldn't find "dark" or "black". Instead I found "green", which really looked like it fit the theme, but it was wrong. There was something missing. It had to be something with colors, and some people say green is the color of jealousy.

The May 3 NYT Strands Spangram is GREENS, ranging from the "G" in the sixth row of the first column to the "S" in the fifth row of the last column. Yes, what was missing from my "green" guess was literally a single letter "S." My first instinct was to look for greens and lettuces, like lettuce and spinach, but they weren't there. GREENS literally refers to anything green, so you have to change how you view the letter grid after you realize this.