Many students’ days begin with a habitual routine of The New York Times’, Mini Crossword, and Connections. These games can be found free on the NYT website.

Personally, I love to begin my days with the Mini Crossword. Then, I move onto the Wordle and usually do the Connections during study hall. 

I often hear other students talking about how hard one Connections group was or how they almost fumbled the Wordle. 

Strands is a new game that was released for beta testing on the NYT website March 4. The NYT describes it as a “word search with a unique twist.” As of now, the game is free and does not require a NYT subscription.

On March 5, I played the game for the first time. I found that it was tricky at first due to being able to connect letters vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and switch directions while connecting letters. 

The game is set up as a 6×8 grid of various, seemingly random letters. Similarly to Connections, there is a different theme each day. However, while Connections has four  groups, in Strands, there is one theme that will have seven matching words. For example, the theme,“she’ll have a ball,” had seven Cinderella-themed words. Words in this puzzle included “pumpkin,” “prince,” “slipper,” and more all scattered throughout. 

If the player is stuck, they can find words that are not included in the theme. Once three of these non-theme words have been found, the player may use a hint. The hint will highlight where the next theme word is; however, the player must still figure out the order.

There are other quirks to the new game. One “Spangram” is within the puzzle. The requirements for this word are that it must stretch from one edge of the grid to the other, and that it must somehow relate all the theme words to each other. 

Once all the theme words have been discovered, they will fit into the 6×8 grid exactly, covering all 48 spaces. 

I think that Strands is somewhat of a mix between the NYT games Spelling Bee and Letter Boxed. This game may be geared towards those who prefer word puzzle games rather than action/arrow key games like “.io” games and Tetris. 

So far, I think it is super exciting that there is another game in the NYT lineup. I love word games and crossword puzzles so I like that this is a new one in that genre. 

At this point, I like Strands more than the Mini Crossword and Letter Boxed, but not more than Wordle. I love that Wordle is short, but challenging. I like that you only have 6 tries and that there is one solution. On the other hand, Letter Boxed has what seems like infinite solutions, and when I decide to do it it typically takes me around 20 minutes. 

Overall, I think Strands is worth a try for anyone familiar with the NYT Games, or even anyone that enjoys the Game Pigeon “Word Hunt” and “Word Bites.”

Personally, I think that this new and engaging game will become part of many student’s NYT game routine. Also, this game may be a fun way for students to unwind while improving spatial reasoning skills.

I am looking forward to seeing how other students and NYT Games players react to the new game. I hope everyone enjoys the new challenge as much as I have!