New York Times Strands Today: Hints, Spinograms, and Answers for Monday, May 27

Strands is an all-new daily mystery from The New York Times. More difficult than the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.

Like Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you are stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.

How to play Strands

All Strands puzzles begin with the goal of finding “keywords” hidden in a grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or clicking to form words; Double-click the last letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted in blue and will no longer be selectable.

If you find a word that’s not a topic word, it’s still helpful! For every three unrelated words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint – the letters of one of the keywords will be revealed and you’ll just have to decipher them.

Each letter on the grid is used to represent keywords and there is no overlap. Each character will be used once, and once only.

Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special word (or words) that describes the subject of the puzzle and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the extension chart, it will be highlighted in yellow.

The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints.