Key Highlights:
The NYT Strands Puzzle has quickly joined the ranks of Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Connections as one of the most addictive daily word games from The New York Times. Launched in March 2024, it offers a fresh twist on word-hunting, encouraging solvers to think not just about vocabulary but about themes, rhymes, and connections.
Unlike Wordle’s 5-letter logic or Connections’ categorical groupings, Strands immerses you in a 6×8 grid of letters. Your mission? Find themed words hidden in any direction — and ultimately uncover the spangram, a special word that reflects the puzzle’s theme and connects one end of the board to the other.
🧩 NYT Strands Puzzle for April 13, 2025 (Puzzle #406)
Theme: “Orange door hinge”
Hint: “Sounds like a hue”
Spangram: COLORRHYMES
This whimsical theme plays off the phrase often used to challenge rhyming ability—“orange” being notoriously rhyme-resistant. But the NYT puzzle makers delivered a clever take: words that rhyme with color names.
Today’s Themed Answers and Color Rhymes
Each of the following answers rhymes phonetically with a color, making it a delightfully meta and linguistic challenge:
| Themed Word | Rhymes With |
|---|---|
| FLEW | Blue |
| QUEEN | Green |
| HELLO | Yellow |
| PILOT | Violet |
| HEIGHT | White |
| PLAQUE | Black |
| SPREAD | Red |
These themed answers aren’t immediately obvious, requiring players to think aurally, not visually. That’s what made today’s puzzle both tough and deeply satisfying.
🎯 How to Play the NYT Strands Puzzle
If you’re new to the game, here’s a quick breakdown of the rules and structure:
✅ 1. Understand the Theme
Each day begins with a hint or pun that alludes to the puzzle’s theme. This will guide you in finding related words.
✅ 2. Find Themed Words
Search for words connected to the theme. Words can bend in any direction—diagonally, vertically, or horizontally.
✅ 3. Unlock Hints
Every time you find a valid non-theme word of four or more letters, you earn a hint. These help you uncover one themed word automatically.
✅ 4. Solve the Spangram
Each puzzle contains a special word that spans the grid from one side to the other. It ties the puzzle’s theme together—today’s was COLORRHYMES.
✅ 5. Finish with Flair
Once you’ve found all themed words and the spangram, the puzzle is complete. Finish it in record time to challenge your brain and compete with others online.
💡 Strategy Tips for Winning the NYT Strands Puzzle
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned solver, these expert strategies can help you dominate each day’s Strands grid:
🔎 1. Don’t Ignore Non-Theme Words
Finding non-theme words like “time,” “glass,” or “plant” helps you unlock hints, which can quickly reveal tougher theme words.
🧠 2. Use the Theme Creatively
Today’s “orange door hinge” required thinking in homophones and rhymes. Let the puzzle’s wordplay guide your direction — literally and metaphorically.
🧩 3. Focus on the Spangram Early
Spotting a potential spangram word helps unlock the structure of the puzzle. Words like “COLORRHYMES” hint at how other words might fit in.
🖐️ 4. Use a Finger or Pen
If playing on desktop or mobile isn’t clicking, try visualizing connections with a pen and paper. Sometimes tracing letters helps break mental blocks.
📈 Why NYT Strands Is Gaining Global Popularity
Within just months of its release, the NYT Strands Puzzle has become a top-trending brain game for several reasons:
- Compact yet complex – Most puzzles take under 10 minutes
- Visually engaging – A dynamic grid keeps players involved
- Educational – Reinforces language, logic, and lateral thinking
- Sharable – Like Wordle, users love sharing results on social media
- Perfect balance – Not too long, not too easy
It’s also notable that The New York Times continues to innovate in the game space, with Strands being one of the best-received launches after Connections in 2023 and Wordle’s acquisition in 2022.
🗓️ NYT Strands Puzzle Archive and Replay Option
Want to go back and challenge yourself with previous puzzles? While the NYT currently does not offer a public archive for Strands (as it does for Wordle), many players:
- Screenshot their boards
- Share hints and spangrams on Reddit and Discord
- Use third-party blogs or newsletters that track daily puzzles
🗨️ Community Reactions to Today’s Puzzle
Social media and online puzzle communities had plenty to say about today’s clever theme:
“Took me forever to get ‘HELLO’ rhyming with yellow. Pure genius.”
– Reddit user u/WordWanderer
“Spangram COLORRHYMES made me LOL. What a throwback to middle school poetry games.”
– Twitter user @wordgridgeek
“Best theme in weeks. Rhymes, colors, humor — had it all!”
– Discord (Strands Daily Channel)
📚 The Educational Value of NYT Strands
Teachers, linguists, and language learners have begun using Strands in classrooms and workshops. Why?
- It builds phonetic awareness
- Encourages creative thinking
- Supports vocabulary acquisition
- Enhances spelling and spatial reasoning
Today’s rhyming-color challenge was a great example of cross-discipline puzzle building, merging sound, sense, and syntax.
April 13 NYT Strands Was a Rhyme-Filled Delight
Today’s NYT Strands Puzzle was one of the most creative entries yet. With its rhyme-based color theme and clever spangram, it challenged solvers to think differently and listen closely.
Whether you’re playing for fun, to sharpen your mind, or to compete against fellow puzzle pros, Strands is quickly becoming an essential part of the daily mental workout.
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