• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Completely fabricated
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, July 13 (game #497)
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 Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, July 12 (game #496).
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.
NYT Strands today (game #497) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
NYT Strands today (game #497) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- SAND
- AXEL
- KILO
- LOST
- NOTE
- RAIN
NYT Strands today (game #497) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 8 letters
NYT Strands today (game #497) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: bottom, 3rd column
Last side: top, 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 #497) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #497, are…
- LINEN
- WOOL
- SILK
- COTTON
- RAYON
- POLYESTER
- SPANGRAM: TEXTILES
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 3 hints
A real muddle through Strands for me today, with three hints needed to get things done and a head scratcher at the end before I finally saw that the word we were looking for was POLYESTER.
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I really wasn’t on my game today. I even connected the letters of non-game word woollen and completely missed WOOL – feeling like a right fool when the hint gave me exactly that.
I guess if you get the puzzle done it’s all immaterial. I hope you found it easier.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday, July 12, game #496)
- GLOVE
- PEANUTS
- HELMET
- PITCHER
- BULLPEN
- JAMBOTRON
- SPANGRAM: STADIUM
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 Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers…
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