• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Hit the deck!
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, September 28 (game #574)
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, September 27 (game #573).
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 #574) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
NYT Strands today (game #574) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- MAID
- POET
- RACE
- CHAPS
- DING
- MOAN
NYT Strands today (game #574) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 10 letters
NYT Strands today (game #574) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: right, 5th row
Last side: left, 6th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #574) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #574, are…
- CLUBS
- KING
- QUEEN
- JACK
- SPADES
- DIAMONDS
- HEARTS
- SPANGRAM: INTHECARDS
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
After briefly flirting with the idea that today’s theme could have something to do with boat decks I was left in little doubt that it wasn’t, after finding CLUBS in my familiar starting spot of the top-left-hand corner.
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From here I could have gone on to find the three other suites, but KING was lurking in the opposite corner and this unlocked QUEEN and JACK.
The only tricky thing today was seeing the backwards spangram, which unusually I left until last after completely a clean sweep of the board. Possibly the easiest game of the month.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday, September 27, game #573)
- QUIET
- SILENT
- INAUDIBLE
- HUSHED
- NOISELESS
- SPANGRAM: PIPEDOWN
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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