Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.

Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.

How to play Strands

You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the “theme words” hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable.

If you find a word that isn’t a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint — the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and you’ll just have to unscramble it.

Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once.

Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special theme word (or words) that describe the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow.

The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s theme is “Honey I’m home!”

Here’s a hint that might help you: places you call home

Today’s Strand answers

Today’s spanagram

We’ll start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own:

Today’s Strands answers

BUNGALOW
CABIN
COLONIAL
COTTAGE
CRAFTSMAN
RANCH

Love crossword puzzles but don’t have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? That’s what The Mini is for!

A bite-sized version of the New York Times’ well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isn’t always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt.

Just like our Wordle hints and Connections hints, we’re here to help with The Mini today if you’re stuck and need a little help.

Below are the answers for the NYT Mini crossword today.

NYT Mini Crossword answers today

Across

Down

Actor Jason of “Dune” – MOMOA
Submit one’s resume – APPLY
Poker player’s giveaway – TELL
Direction that’s down and a little to the right: Abbr. – SSE
“Hell __ no fury like …” – HATH

We have the solution to Wordle on July 16, as well as some helpful hints to help you figure out the answer yourself, right here. We’ve placed the answer at the bottom of the page, so we don’t ruin the surprise before you’ve had a chance to work through the clues. So let’s dive in, starting with a reminder of yesterday’s answer.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Let’s start by first reminding ourselves of yesterday’s Wordle answer for those new to the game or who don’t play it daily, which was “NEIGH.” So we can say that the Wordle answer today definitely isn’t that. Now, with that in mind, perhaps take another stab at it using one of these Wordle starting words and circle back if you have no luck.

Hints for today’s Wordle

Still can’t figure it out? We have today’s Wordle answer right here, below. But first, one more thing: Let’s take a look at three hints that could help you find the solution, without giving it away, so there’s no need to feel guilty about keeping your streak alive — you put in some work, after all! Or just keep scrolling for the answer.

Today’s Wordle includes the letter h.
Today’s Wordle uses two vowels.
Today’s Wordle is where you find seashells.

Today’s Wordle answer

No luck? Don’t sweat it — you can’t get them all! If you just want to see today’s Wordle answer to continue your streak, you can find it below.

The answer to today’s Wordle is …

SHORE
Today’s Wordle definition

And here’s what it means, according to our good friend ChatGPT:

Tips for tomorrow’s Wordle

It might seem like Wordle is all luck, but there are a few good practices you can use to help get as many clues as possible in just a few guesses, making it that much more likely you can figure out the final word before you run out of tries. The most important guess is your first, and the trick is to load up on vowels (A, E, I, O, and U).

Some popular starting words people have had good luck with are “adieu,” “media,” “arise,” and “radio.” Just make sure not to pick a word with double letters, or you’re wasting precious guesses. The aim here is to try to figure out which vowels the mystery word contains, then layer in common consonants and close in from there.

Your second word, assuming that the first one gave you a good jumping-off point, should begin to lean more heavily on common consonants like R, S, and T. More good ones here we’ve seen are “stern,” “irate,” and “atone.” You never want to reuse any letters from a prior round that showed up as gray — you know they aren’t in the word.

Now that’s all solved and the definition is taken care of, and you’re armed with some tips to crush tomorrow’s Wordle, here are some games like Wordle you can try today.

Lunar scientists were shocked and dismayed last month when NASA announced that it was canceling work on its moon rover, VIPER. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover was intended to search the moon’s south pole for evidence of water there, but NASA said that it had to ax the project due to increasing costs.

This week, an open letter to Congress called the cancellation of the mission “unprecedented and indefensible,” and questioned NASA’s assertion that the cancellation of the mission would not affect plans to send humans to the moon. Scientists argued that the mission was fundamental to understanding the presence of water on the moon, which is a key resource for human exploration, as well as an issue of scientific interest.

Now, however, the VIPER mission may have the chance to go ahead in a different form. Intuitive Machines, the company that launched a semi-successful lunar lander mission earlier this year, says it is interested in taking over the rover mission and launching it using its own lander.

“Our position there is that VIPER science is important to lunar scientists and the future of the Artemis program, and it’s very important in terms of prospecting for volatiles and entrained water ice in the soil,” said Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, as reported by SpaceNews.

NASA has expressed interest in handing off the VIPER mission to a commercial partner, which would surely be preferable to all of the work that has gone into the rover so far going to waste. Altemus said his company was looking into what the costs would be to finish work on the rover, and that it was working with other partners such as companies or universities. He did not specify which other organizations were involved.

If Intuitive Machines were to take over VIPER, it could use its Nova-D lander to carry it to the moon, as the Nova-D is still in development, but has a larger weight capacity than the Nova-C lander that landed on the moon earlier this year. The planned launch date for the mission would be late 2027, and news from NASA about the mission’s future is expected next month.

Citibank, for example, has made the Paralympics the focal point of its Olympic sponsorship efforts since 2020. Tina Davis, head of enterprise marketing and brand engagement, said the decision has enabled the bank to cut through in a way that would be difficult amid the crowd of consumer brands attempting to reach audiences at the earlier Olympic Games. 

“It was an opportunity for us to take a lane that we carve out for ourselves in the Olympic and Paralympic movement,” she said.

The Paralympics draw a smaller share of viewers than the Olympics (for the Tokyo games the most-watched Paralympics telecast reached 14.1 million American viewers, versus 19.5 million for the most-watched Olympic telecast, according to NBCU), but they’re still a major TV event.

In the U.S., NBCU said in July that it had already pulled in over $1.25 billion in advertising revenue across the Olympic and Paralympic Games — higher than its total revenue for the full run at 2021 Tokyo — though it hasn’t released figures breaking down the proportion of ad revenue coming from Paralympics coverage.

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, which has carried Paralympic TV rights since 2012 (and which, in contrast to Britain’s main public service broadcaster the BBC, sells ads), changed the way it packages up its 1,300 hours of linear, YouTube and streaming on demand (SVoD) coverage.

To match the increase in hours broadcast — triple the amount of coverage it offered in 2012 — the broadcaster has changed the way it sells brand sponsorships around the Paralympics, offering “gold”, “silver, and “bronze” products rather than the single product it previously had in the market. The network will run bespoke idents created for chief partners Allianz and Toyota that incorporate audio description, British Sign Language and subtitling. According to Rupinder Downie, content solutions leader at Channel 4: “Everything we’ve been doing in Channel 4 Sales ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games is about boosting positive attitudes to disability among our partners.”

According to a Channel 4 spokesperson, the broadcaster has already sold 16 of those brand sponsorship packages, compared to 7 sold during the Tokyo games. Though they declined to share pricing or sales figures, the spokesperson said sales were higher than at Tokyo.

Citibank initially took a broad approach to the Olympics — sponsoring Team U.S.A. since 2012 — before focusing more closely on the Paralympics from 2020 onwards.

Davis said the move has helped anchor internal and external marketing aims. “Not only does it do well in terms of garnishing reputation and goodwill towards our brand, it’s an incredible platform for colleague engagement, and it also is an opportunity for us to put our muscle around our mission and value proposition, which is enabling growth and progress in the communities we serve,” she said.

According to Davis, who did not share precise spending figures, the bank has held its media spend “steady as she goes” at this year’s Olympics, focusing primarily on TV spending.

“The bulk of our buy is on NBC and all of their platforms, because that’s where people are leaning in the most. We surround that with out-of-home in the U.S. and U.K. We also leverage financial newsprint and digital high impact placements,” she explained.

Another advertiser taking advantage of the large TV audiences expected for the Paralympics is Deloitte. It’s been running a TV spot on U.S. linear TV and Peacock highlighting pioneering athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic games, as well as on the IOC’s own social and digital channels.

“The Paralympics are very important to us,” said Suzanne Kounkel, global chief marketing officer and CMO of Deloitte U.S. As well as an awareness play, Deloitte has captured a secondary benefit; the later date of the Paralympics (which run August 28th to September 8th) mean it’ll be able to wine and dine clients for another two weeks in Paris, at its “Maison Deloitte” base on the Champs-Élysées.

Of course, TV isn’t the only channel advertisers are using. For some advertisers, the high cost of their Olympic partnership combined with viewers’ shifting media habits mean digital and social channels are better destinations for their dollars.

Bridgestone’s approach, for example, is “less about that broad TVC approach” instead favoring a focus on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and X, according to Caitlin Ranson, senior manager of partnerships marketing at Bridgestone Americas, who did not share a media budget breakdown.

Though it’s sponsored the Olympics since 2014, and the Paralympics since 2018, like Citi the company shifted its attention primarily to the Paralympics after the last games in Tokyo, part of a wider review of the company’s sponsorship strategy in recent years.

The tire manufacturer decided not to renew its Winter Classic NHL sponsorship in 2021, and a league-wide partnership with the NFL in 2022, though it still maintains partnership deals with several NFL teams and the Nashville Predators hockey team. 

But it’s doubled down on the Paralympics, shifting the media spend it allotted for the Olympics as a whole into digital and paid social around the parasport event (Ranson didn’t share specific budget details), as a more “strategic” approach, according to Ranson.

It’s Olympic influencer roster now features only Paralympic athletes, including several competing in disciplines that require equipment, such as wheelchairs or running blades, that Bridgestone can link its research and development expertise to.

A recent content series, for example, showed Team U.S.A. athlete Aaron Pike testing new rubber hand rims and gloves with Bridgestone engineers. “We were able to discover a lot of opportunities with our expertise in the tire and rubber space to be able to support them within their equipment,” said Ranson.

In a message to sellers earlier this month, Amazon recommended that third-party sellers place their Black Friday inventory in the company’s fulfillment centers by Oct. 19, a week earlier than the same deadline set last year. The e-commerce giant also said that sellers should send their Fulfillment by Amazon inventory to its facilities in August and September to ensure brands have enough products in stock ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season. 

“Our fulfillment center teams will be focused on receiving inventory in September and October to ensure your products are placed in the right fulfillment centers ahead of peak,” Amazon said. “In November and December, we’ll shift our focus to processing customer orders as this is our busiest time of year.”

For Amazon, the shortened timeline is an apparent bid to keep up with its ultra-fast Prime delivery speeds during the biggest shopping season of the year. Read the full story at Modern Retail.