The theme of today's NYT Strands returns to obscure references that few will immediately understand. Like the May 8 puzzle, I found the right words for the Spangram because they didn't seem to connect at all in my mind.
How to Play Strands: New York Times Puzzle
The May 9 Strands board has a number of common words that don’t seem to fit the theme at first, so my tip is to just form a random word that makes sense until you unlock your first clue. Doing this once or twice can be enough to get you started on finding the Spangram and understanding the theme better.
You were probably searching for the same words I was at first: “Phone,” “game,” or “screen,” since we’re so used to tapping on our phones these days. I couldn’t form any of those words, or any others related to online video, like “views” or “reels.” That’s when I realized that today’s Strands have nothing to do with mobile games.
The puzzle is about a game, but not about a video game. Think of a game where you use an object to touch another object, and the words are decorations and obstacles on the field where you play this game.
