
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 Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, November 20 (game #627).
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 #628) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Heard at the board meeting
NYT Strands today (game #628) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- DORK
- SPORT
- SPENT
- TRIP
- DICE
- CLOT
NYT Strands today (game #628) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 14 letters
NYT Strands today (game #628) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: right, 5th row
Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #628) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #628, are…
- ALIGN
- PIVOT
- DISRUPT
- LIAISE
- SCALE
- IDEATE
- SPANGRAM: CORPORATESPEAK
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 2 hints
Back in the day I once found myself as a board member of a short-lived, dysfunctional startup that had somehow managed to purloin some investment from a couple of gullible billionaires.
During that time, I attended plenty of meetings where words such as DISRUPT and IDEATE were bandied around – without anyone actually knowing what they meant.
Finally, I realized that what they meant didn’t matter; just that they made the person saying them sound as if they knew what they meant.
Anyway, I digress. Let’s talk about today’s Strands. Despite my familiarity with CORPORATESPEAK I struggled to get started and took a couple of hints.
ALIGN and PIVOT got me moving, but I found it difficult to get all of my buzzwords in a row.
Incidentally, if you are ever in a meeting and you hear someone say PIVOT then you are in big trouble. It usually means the company is pivoting towards bankruptcy.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, November 20, game #627)
- RUMOR
- GOSSIP
- REPORT
- HEARSAY
- SPANGRAM: SPREADTHEWORD
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.