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NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, August 1 (game #516) - Thursday, July 31, 2025 - 10:00
Looking for a different day?

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, July 31 (game #515).

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 #516) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Slithering away

NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

  • CANADA
  • TRADER
  • PLACE
  • BEAT
  • POLAR
  • CLEAR
NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 7 letters

NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 5th row

Last side: right, 6th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #516) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #516, are…

  • ADDER
  • PYTHON
  • COBRA
  • MAMBA
  • VIPER
  • ANACONDA
  • RATTLER
  • SPANGRAM: SERPENT
  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 1 hint

I was expecting the spangram to spell out “snake”, but that would be too obvious – and too short.

Despite knowing what we were searching for, I struggled to find a SERPENT – but did locate plenty of non-game words, so I took a hint to get me going. ADDER set me off and from there I slithered to glory.

That said, I did tap out “rattle” instead of RATTLER about three times before adding the R once there was no other option.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 31, game #515)
  • SPONGE
  • LAVA
  • BUNDT
  • FRUIT
  • POUND
  • CHEESE
  • FUNNEL
  • SPANGRAM: PIECE OF CAKE
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.

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