• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Back it up
NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, August 10 (game #890)
Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, August 9 (game #889).
Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
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NYT Strands today (game #890) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
NYT Strands today (game #890) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- FAST
- CURE
- STARE
- FIST
- TROOP
- STIFF
NYT Strands today (game #890) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 13 letters
NYT Strands today (game #890) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
• First side: top, 3rd column
• Last side: bottom, 4th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #890) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #890, are…
- DATA
- FACTS
- FIGURES
- STATISTICS
- SPECIFICS
- SPANGRAM: PROOFPOSITIVE
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
I spotted “positive”, “proof” and “specific” as non-game words before seeing them as the spangram and adding an S to get to the SPECIFICS.
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This, then, was a game of feeling around in the dark before gradually completing the board, rather than a smashing through — or maybe I was slower just because it’s a Monday?
Either way, it was a pleasure to complete a game celebrating the bedrock of good journalism, as opposed to the opinion and bluster that makes up most of the media landscape.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Sunday, August 9, game #889)
- LUXURY
- EXTRAVAGANCE
- TREAT
- INDULGENCE
- FRILLS
- SPANGRAM: IMWORTHIT
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.
Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers…
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