Today’s NYT Strand’s tips, answers and help for November 20 #262

Looking for latest Strand’s answer? Click here for our daily Strands tip, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Connections puzzles.

Beaches doesn’t get as much attention as its New York Times game siblings Wordle and Connections, but it can be just as challenging and entertaining. Strands just moved out of beta, so it’s now in the New York Times official Games app, which might give it more fans. I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, and Mini Crossword answers, visit CNET’s NYT puzzle page.

Read more: NEW Connections Round 1: These are the 5 hardest puzzles so far

How to play NYT Strands

1. Use today’s theme to look for words related to that topic. See one? Drag or click the letters in order. Click the last letter twice to submit your guess. If you’ve found a theme word, it will glow blue and stay that way.

2. Other words you find are considered clue words that give you clues to the theme words. Find three clue words (they must be at least four letters each) and the game will reward you by showing you a theme word. But if you can’t unscramble it, find three more clue words and the game will highlight the theme word’s letters in order.

3. Go hunting for span framea special theme word that spans the entire puzzle, although it could flow across or from top to bottom. That sums up the puzzle theme.

4. When you’re done, you’ll have used every letter on the board in either a theme word or spangram. Theme words fill the entire board and do not overlap.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Dagens Strand’s theme is: To our furry friends.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Furbaby needs.

Clues to unlock hints in the game

Your goal is to find hidden words that match the theme of the puzzle. If you get stuck, find the words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get these tips, but any word with four or more letters that you find will work:

• BEET, BEER, SPINNING, SEAL, BACK, BITE, PILE, PILE, COLD, PALLET, SKIN, WHEEL, PET, PEST, COLA, STEP, STEP

Answers to today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that are related to the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that extends from one side of the puzzle to the other. Once you get them all (I originally thought there were always eight, but learned the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-spangram responses:

• BONE, BULLET, LASER, CAT NIP, CLAW, KIBBLE, STRUTTER

Dagens Strand’s spangram

Dagens Strand’s spangram is pet supplies. To find it, start with P, five letters down the leftmost column, and work your way up and back.