StrandsNYTLooking for Saturdays Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:Very very hard Strands today, in my opinion, so I am wondering if it took you as long as it took me. So here is some help.How To Play StrandsThe New York Times Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. Its in beta for now, which means itll only stick around if enough people play it every day.Theres a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and youll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.Youll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links two opposite sides of the board. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.Every letter is used once in one of the theme words and spangram. You can connect letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and its possible to switch directions in the middle of a word. If youre playing on a touchscreen, double tap the last letter to submit your guess.Read More: The Series Finale Of What May Be Netflixs Best Show Is Now LiveIf you find three valid words of at least four letters that are not part of the theme, youll unlock the Hint button. Clicking this will highlight the letters that make up one of the theme words.Be warned: Youll need to be on your toes. Sometimes youll need to fill the missing word(s) in a phrase. On other days, the game may revolve around synonyms or homophones. The difficulty will vary from day to day, and the puzzle creators will try to surprise you sometimes.What Is Todays Strands Hint?The official hint will be followed by one I make up myself to push you a long a little. The official hint is:Start smallAnd my hint is:Word in commonWhat Are Todays Strands Answers?Spangram comes first and then the full list of answers after that. The spangram is:LITTLEAnd is found on the board here:StrandsNYTThe full list of answers is:LEAGUEDEVILRASCALSDIPPERSPOONWOMENFOOTROCKStrandsNYTYeah, this was hard. It was very difficult for me to figure out the connecting thread, so I thought I was just throwing up random words, and I used a lot of hints. Even after the spangram it was still tough. DIPPER took forever and you have to be pretty old to remember Little RASCALS. I am not sure I know the average age of a Strands player, however. Very tough puzzle if you ask me.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.