Today’s New York Times Tips, Answers and Help, November 6, No. 248.

looking for the most recent Will Strands respond? Click here to get our daily Strands tipsplus our daily answers and clues for mini crosswords, Wordle puzzles and The New York Times Connections.

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Strands doesn’t get as much attention as its New York Times game siblings Wardle And Connectionsbut it can be no less challenging and interesting. Strands just came out of beta, so it’s now on the official New York Times Games app, which could bring it more fans. I’m going deeper into rules for Strands in this story.

If you are looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword Answers, you can visit CNET NYT Riddle Clues Page.

Read more: NYT Connections is in its first year: These are the 5 hardest puzzles so far

How to play New York Times Strands

1. Use today’s topic to find words related to that topic. Do you see one? Drag or click the letters in order. Click on the last letter twice to submit your guess. If you find a topic word, it will light up blue and stay that way.

2. Other words you find are considered clue words, which give you clues to the topic words. Find three clue words (each must have at least four letters) and the game will reward you by showing you the theme word. But if you can’t decipher it, find three more clue words and the game will highlight the letters of the main word in order.

3. Hunt for spanggrama special themed word that spans the entire puzzle, although it can run across or top to bottom. It sums up the theme of the puzzle.

4. When you’re done, you use every letter on the board in either a theme word or a spamgram. Thematic words fill the entire board and do not overlap.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands Topic: I’m just strumming…

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a hint: Music section.

Keywords to unlock in-game hints.

Your goal is to find hidden words that match the theme of the puzzle. If you get stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four or more letters, Strands will show one of the themed words. These are the words I used for the clues, but any four or more letter words you find will work:

• GRAM, GRANT, RANT, GAIT, LINE, LION, RISE, STAR, BARK, MEN’S, RYLE, SKIRT, RATS, GOAT, TEAR, SHAVED, SHAVES.

Answers to today’s Strands riddle

These are answers that are related to the topic. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including spagram, a themed word that extends from one side of the puzzle to the other. Once you have collected them all (I initially thought there were always eight, but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-spam answers:

• HARP, BANJO, SITAAR, GUITAR, VIOLIN, UKULELE, MANDOLIN

Today’s Strands spagram

Today’s Strands spagram STRAINY. To find it, look for the five-letter S at the bottom of the first row, on the far left, and scroll through it.