• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Follow suit
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, October 12 (game #588)
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, October 11 (game #587).
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 #588) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
NYT Strands today (game #588) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- DIET
- SHEAR
- TAKING
- RIDGE
- WHITE
- BRICK
NYT Strands today (game #588) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 11 letters
NYT Strands today (game #588) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: left, 4th row
Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #588) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #588, are…
- SPADES
- HEARTS
- WHIST
- BRIDGE
- PINOCHLE
- EUCHRE
- SPANGRAM: TRICKTAKING
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 2 hints
This game played a real trick on me – ironic considering the spangram.
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I started off thinking that “follow suit” must mean card suits and after getting SPADES and HEARTS easily I set about looking for diamonds, clubs, and a joker. After finding none of these I decided to take a hint from the non-game words I spotted, which gave me WHIST.
The spangram and BRIDGE were easy to spot, but the final two card games really foxed me. Another hint helped narrow things down, something I needed, having never played either PINOCHLE or EUCHRE.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday, October 11, game #587)
- PEACOCK
- ARCHES
- APPLE
- BULLSEYE
- SHELL
- SWOOSH
- SPANGRAM: ICONICLOGOS
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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