The New York Times Strands puzzle for March 12, #739, presents a moderate challenge due to a complex theme and longer-than-usual answer words. For those seeking assistance, here’s a breakdown of hints and the full solution.
Understanding the Puzzle
Strands is a word-search puzzle where players must identify words fitting a hidden theme. The game provides in-game hints when three words of four letters or more are found. The ultimate goal is to uncover all theme-related words, including a “spangram” — a word that spans the entire grid, using every letter once.
Hints for Today’s Theme
The theme for today’s puzzle is “Out-and-out.” A clarifying clue is “Absolute.” This suggests words expressing completeness or totality.
Words to Unlock Hints
To trigger in-game hints, any combination of four-letter or longer words will work. The following words were used in this solution, but players can use others:
- WOOL
- DYED
- LEET
- ROTE
- BEAR
- BARE
- CHEW
- ROUGH
- POLE
- COMP
Complete Answers
The full set of answers for today’s Strands puzzle are:
- TOTAL
- UTTER
- COMPLETE
- THOROUGH
- VERITABLE
The spangram, which spans the entire grid, is:
- ABSOLUTE
Why This Matters
The Strands puzzle, like other NYT games (Wordle, Connections), has seen a surge in popularity as casual, daily mental exercises. Its difficulty varies, sometimes testing vocabulary and pattern recognition more than pure guessing. Solving these puzzles offers a small but satisfying mental challenge for many players each day.
