NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, July 28 (game #512)

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 Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, July 27 (game #511).

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 #512) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Inch by inch, row by row

NYT Strands today (game #512) – hint #2 – clue words

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

MORPH
BLEED
PURE
SHARP
PHASE
ROAST

NYT Strands today (game #512) – hint #3 – spangram letters

How many letters are in today’s spangram?

• Spangram has 15 letters

NYT Strands today (game #512) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

First side: left, 6th row

Last side: right, 7th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #512) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #512, are…

GROW
SEED
RIPEN
HARVEST
BLOSSOM
SPROUT
SPANGRAM: VEGETABLE GARDEN

My rating: Hard
My score: 1 hint

Two notable things about today’s word search. Firstly, I don’t think I have ever seen so many five-letter non-game words lurking on the grid. Secondly, a return to whopping great long spangrams.

The 15-letter yellow snake that revealed VEGETABLE GARDEN didn’t make today’s game any easier, which is what usually happens when we have a long spangram. In fact it was satisfyingly tricky despite being obvious what we were looking for.

GROW I found easily enough but a lack of patience and that rich harvest of non-game words tempted me into claiming a hint. This same lack of patience is possibly why I like the idea of having a veggie garden, but my talents lay in killing plants rather than growing them.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Sunday, July 27, game #511)

STUDY
EXAMINE
SURVEY
WEIGH
INSPECT
SCRUTINIZE
SPANGRAM: ANALYSIS

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.