NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, July 22 (game #506)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Monday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, July 21 (game #505).

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 NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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

NYT Strands today (game #506) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Pet store purchase

NYT Strands today (game #506) – hint #2 – clue words

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

TIRE
QUOTA
PURE
SLAP
TUSK
TRIP

NYT Strands today (game #506) – hint #3 – spangram letters

How many letters are in today’s spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #506) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

First side: top, 4th column

Last side: bottom, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #506) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #506, are…

FISH
PUMP
ROCKS
TANK
FILTER
PLANTS
THERMOMETER
SPANGRAM: AQUARIUM

My rating: Hard
My score: Perfect

It always amazes me how well words are hidden within Strands. THERMOMETER, for example, is a pretty long word – but I was totally oblivious to its existence, hanging around in the bottom right-hand corner, until the very end of my game.

When I first started looking I thought that we were searching for animals you might buy at a pet shop, so after getting FISH I was searching in vain for dogs, cats, hamsters… Then after getting PUMP I joined the dots and found a home for the letter Q.

An AQUARIUM must surely rank as one of the most neglected items in western homes – second perhaps to exercise bikes, purchased with grand plans of creating an exotic world filled with beautiful fish but then abandoned as they all eat each other and you realize fish aren’t as beautiful as you first thought.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Monday, July 21, game #505)

KITE
FROG
FISH
CRANE
BUTTERFLY
SPANGRAM: ORIGAMI

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.