Hints, Spangram and Answers for Saturday November 9th

On By Littum

Looking for Friday’s Strands tip, spangram and answers? You can find them here:

ForbesNEW ‘Strands’ hints, spangrams and answers for Friday, November 8By Paul Tassi

I’m back! After a two-week hiatus while my colleagues, Kris Holt and Paul Tassi, took over the Strands guides here at Forbes Games, I’m back! I’m glad to be back, especially as the days get colder and I’m more likely than ever to hide inside and play games – puzzles, shooters, RPGs, whatever. Give me all the games, and then give me about six more hours a day so I actually have time to play them. With Strands, it goes pretty fast anyway. Today is fun, let’s solve it!

Beaches is the newest game in the New York Times stable of puzzles. It’s a fun twist on classic word search games. Each day we are given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board. One of these words is span frame which cross from one side of the grid to the other and reveal even more about today’s theme.

Spoilers ahead.

Today’s Beach Hints

Today’s theme: Generation jam.

Tip #1: The Grunge Era.

Tip #2: Musical acts.

To help you uncover all the words, I usually give the first two letters of each word, including the spangram. Today I will use song titles instead.

  • “Santeria”
  • “Park Life”
  • “Heart Shaped Box”
  • “Lateralus”
  • “Champagne Supernova”
  • “Cut Your Hair”

Remember, spoilers ahead!

What is today’s Strands answer?

Today’s spangram is: 1990 BANDS

Here is the full list of words:

  • SUBLIME
  • VEIL
  • NIRVANA
  • TOOL
  • OASIS
  • PAVEMENT

Here is the finished Strands grid:

Today’s Strands Breakdown

This was one of my very favorite Strands puzzles so far, but that’s because I grew up with all these bands back when the music was fantastic. I found SUBLIME almost immediately and then BLUR followed closely by NIRVANA. At this point I was considering “Nineties Bands” as a possible tip for this guide – when I saw BANDS in the grid, and working backwards found the spanframe. So much for that tip! The left half of the grid was harder, but when I found OASIS and TOOL, all I had was PAVEMENT, probably the band I’m least familiar with of the lot. However, I think ‘Generation jam’ is actually a lousy “theme” for today’s Strands. When I think “jam” I think of jam bands like The Grateful Dead, not Nirvana.

How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know Twitter and Facebook.

Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage, and more. Thanks for stopping by!