Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Most of the NYT word puzzles today didn’t go in for a hearts-and-lace, Cupid with a bow, Valentine’s Day theme, But Strands puzzle went all in. Today’s puzzle is a fun one. If you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Will you be my valentine?
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Babycakes or sweetie pie.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- POSE, DOSE, NOSE, GELT, HARE, SMOKE, HONE, MARE, LOVE, SOME, GILA, MEME, LONG, TONG, DENY, NOOK, NOME, DONE.
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- ANGEL, HONEY, POOKIE, DARLING, LOVEBUG, SNOOKUMS
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is ENDEARMENT. To find it, start with the E that’s two rows over from the left and five letters down and wind over and around.
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Feb. 14, 2025, #348.
Quick tips for Strands
#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.
#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.
#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.
