NEW Strands Today — Hints, Answers and Spangram for Friday, November 29 (Game #271)

On November 29, 2024By Littum

Strands is the NYT’s latest word game, following the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult though, so read on for my Strands tips.

Want more word-based fun? So check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for tips and answers to these games.

SPOILER ALERT: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Strands expert

Marc McLaren

NEW Strands today (game #271) – tip #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NEW Strands theme is… Give me a break

NEW Strands Today (Game #271) – Hint #2 – Clue Words

Play one of these words to unlock the in-game hint system.

DOLL
WIND
RATE
IRATE
NOTE
LACK

NEW Strands today (game #271) – tip #3 – spangram

What’s a hint for today’s spangram?

• Busy doing nothing

NEW Strands today (game #271) – tip #4 – spangram position

What two sides of the board do today’s spangram touch?

First: top, 3rd column

Last: bottom, 3rd column

Okay, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NEW Strands today (game #271) – the answers

NYT Strands answer for game 271 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #271, are…

CHILL
RELAX
TURN OFF
PAUSE
LOAF
LOUNGE
LUXURY
SPANGRAM: DOWNTIME

My rating: Moderate
My score: 1 tip

This was a tougher Strands puzzle than many, and for that I give it kudos. Nobody wants a game that’s so easy it becomes formulaic, so kudos to the NYT team for this one, which needed a little more thought than the kind that just involves naming objects in a certain group.

Of course, the theme here – words for DOWNTIME – is no more complex than some of the others, but unless you’re a walking thesaurus, you’ll need to get the old gray matter working to find them all. As it happens, I needed a hint halfway through; I simply ran out of synonyms for CHILL, RELAX, UNWIND and PAUSE. Once I got a spangram things got a lot easier as is usually the case and I was done a few minutes later so I could go and LUXER or LOAF somewhere else….

How did you do today? Email me and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Strand’s Answer (Thursday, November 28, Game #270)

TURKEY
POTATOES
SOCKS
CRANBERRIES
ROLLS
YAMS
SPANGRAM: LETSFEAST

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is NYT’s new word game after Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta, so it’s a full member of NYT’s game stable and playable NYT Games website on desktop or mobile.

I have a full guide on how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips to solve it, so check it out if you’re struggling to beat it every day.