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Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Technology
Alan Martin

NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #214 (Thursday, October 3 2024)

NYT Strands on a cellphone.
Strands today: Quick menu

Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "Hairy Styles" — is an absolute top-drawer pun and a big clue, but it doesn't narrow it down too much.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #214, as well as the answers, should it come to that. We'll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #214, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #214.  

Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints

The official theme for NYT Strands #214 is... "Hairy Styles".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Clippers at the ready".

If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:

  • BOYS
  • SHOT
  • TUCK
  • PACK
  • FUZZ
  • STAGS

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it both starts and ends with 'S'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's SHORTCUTS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #214?

Drumroll, please...

  • BUZZ
  • PIXIE
  • FLATTOP
  • FADE
  • SHAG
  • PAGEBOY
  • FAUXHAWK
(Image credit: Alan Martin)

..and the spangram was SHORTCUTS.

Strands #214

“Hairy styles”

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🔵💡🔵🔵

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Hi Strands fans. Well done to the New York Times' puzzle setters for a perfect pun in the theme of "Hairy styles". 

Of course, it does make it pretty obvious that this is about haircuts, but I still struggled to name them all even after narrowing down the type with the spangram.

But the board does have some unusual letters in it, and the two 'Z's and single 'X' in the top half set me up nicely, first with BUZZ and then PIXIE. FLATTOP was also pretty obvious, spelt out to the left of both.

What do all these hairdos have in common? They're all short, which helped me to get the spangram of SHORTCUTS (another quality pun!) next.

I got FADE in the bottom right of the board, but at this point, my knowledge of haircuts was pretty much exhausted, which is unsurprising given my hairdresser staple has barely shifted in decades. I had to use a clue, which revealed SHAG.

I had two left to find, and SHAG had revealed a path for the first of these in PAGEBOY. That left just FAUXHAWK to complete the puzzle.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #213 right here.

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