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Every year, I host a cookie swap, where friends of all kinds come from near and far, bearing cookies, and everyone goes home with a boxful of new cookie varieties to try. That’s your first clue to today’s Strands puzzle. Think cookies, especially the sugar cookie type that you roll out and cut and shape accordingly. I didn’t make that kind this year — I made Nut Goodie Thumbprints and Sparkling Sugar Plum Cranberry cookies. Both were keepers, for sure. If you’re reading this, you probably don’t need to know how to play Strands, but just in case, I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. And now, more hints and today’s Strands answers.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Shape and bake.
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: If you give a mouse a cookie.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- ROOK, BUNK, DINE, DIET, ROOT, FACE, RATS, SLAT, BELT, LEET, ANGLE, HEAR, CREEL, MANE, SLEET.
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- BELL, STAR, ANGEL, BUNNY, HEART, FLOWER, DIAMOND
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is COOKIECUTTER. To find it, start with the C that’s two columns in from the left and three letters up from the bottom, and travel clockwise in a sort of circle.
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 12, 2024.