NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Saturday, November 9 (game #251)

NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

Your Strands expert

NYT Strands today (game #251) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Generation jam

NYT Strands today (game #251) – hint #2 – clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

SINE
LEND
STUN
LIME
RULE
BAND

NYT Strands today (game #251) – hint #3 – spangram

What is a hint for today’s spangram?

• GrungePop?

NYT Strands today (game #251) – hint #4 – spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?

First: top, 3rd column

Last: bottom, 3rd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #251) – the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 251 on a blue background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #251, are…

BLUR
OASIS
PAVEMENT
TOOL
NIRVANA
SUBLIME
SPANGRAM: NINETIESBANDS

My rating: Moderate
My score: Perfect

I have slightly mixed feelings about this Strands puzzle. On the one hand, the subject is NINETIESBANDS, and in many ways that’s my specialist subject. I’m a huge music fan (and former music journalist) and the ’90s was my era. Two of the bands in today’s list, PAVEMENT and BLUR, are among my favorites ever, and I have a soft spot for NIRVANA too.

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On the flip side, what on earth does ‘Generation jam’, the theme clue, refer to? I have no idea whatsoever. And setting that aside, this may prove very difficult for people who are either too young or too old to be familiar with the likes of TOOL and SUBLIME, who aren’t necessarily household names (or aren’t these days, at least). Still, rather this than yesterday’s silly emoji-based game.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Friday, 8 November, game #250)

SHAKE
WAVE
CLAP
PRAY
PINCH
FIST
POINT
PEACE
SPANGRAM: HANDGESTURES

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable and 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.

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He’s also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).