NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Monday, October 21

By Sam Hill and Jesse Lennox Updated October 21, 2024 5:30AM

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.

Contents

How to play Strands
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strand answers

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.

Recommended Videos

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 “We’re in this together”

Here’s a hint that might help you: names for different groups.

Today’s Strand answers

NYT

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:

GROUPNAME

Today’s Strands answers

PACK
HERD
KNOT
FLOCK
PRIDE
SWARM
SCHOOL
COLONY

Gaming Guides Editor

As Digital Trends' Gaming evergreen lead, Sam Hill is here to help you find your new favorite game and dive right in. The…

Gaming

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind finally lets you pilot the Megazord

The Megazord appears in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind.

If you grew up in arcades in the 1990s, you probably have fond memories of some very specific games. Multiplayer beat-'em-ups based on popular media of the era were the centerpiece of any arcade at one time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time and X-Men were the kind of games that made kids excited anytime mom said she was making a pit stop at the mall to go clothes shopping. While lots of great '90s shows got their own cabinets, there was one glaring omission: The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers never got their own game.

Decades later, developer Digital Eclipse is finally looking to right that injustice. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind is a new arcade-style brawler that looks like it was pulled right from the '90s, TV scan lines and all. When I went into my first hands-on demo of it, I was sure I knew exactly what to expect. Retro revivals like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge are pitch-perfect fun, but they aren’t exactly surprising. That’s not the case with Rita’s Rewind, which is going the extra mile to make the Rangers’ adventure feel special.
It’s morphin time
My demo began exactly as I expected it to. I hopped over to a TV, where another member of the press was playing with a developer from Digital Eclipse. I picked up a controller and seamlessly jumped in as the Yellow Ranger. It took me no time to figure out what to do. Within seconds, I was slamming enemies and eating food out of destroyed crates. It’s very much a “how you remember old games playing” kind of project. Movement is quick and my attacks are varied. I launch at some enemies with a leaping kick and ground pound them between punches. It’s all fast, furious, and familiar.

Gaming

Star Citizen is kind-of-but-not-really finished

Remember Star Citizen? You'd be forgiven if you didn't. The game will make the occasional splash in the headlines, but after more than 12 years of hype, even the most diehard fans are getting impatient. Yes, it's playable, and honestly, it's a great experience — but it still lacks some of the most-anticipated features. That's why it's such a big deal that Cloud Imperium said that Squadron 42 is nearly finished after years of development.

Squadron 42 is the single-player spinoff of Star Citizen. Cloud Imperium's annual Citizencon event — a Star Citizen-focused gathering — is running this weekend and ends later today. Squadron 42 received an extended gameplay trailer more than an hour in length (although, fair warning, a solid chunk of that is cutscene) and an updated release date of 2026.

Gaming

Maximum Football aims to make every play feel realistic

A player gets tackled in Maximum Football.

Next month, Madden NFL 25 is about to get some competition. Maximum Entertainment will release Maximum Football, a free-to-play simulation sports game. It might not have the official NFL branding, but Maximum Football emphasizes a physics-based approach to gameplay that should make everything from hits to throws feel more realistic than Madden, which often relies on more pre-baked animations. Speaking to Digital Trends ahead of Maximum Football's early access release, game director Micha Brown stressed that the game will stand out by emphasizing honing in on physics-based gameplay and emergent moments that feel more true-to-life for a football simulator.

My discussion with Brown explains why Maximum Entertainment is taking this physics-based approach to Maximum Football's gameplay, the challenges associated with doing so, the "physics mode" option that will be in its settings, and how Unreal Engine 5 supports all of that. We also touched on how the game has evolved since its beta over the summer and why it will be free to play when it comes out. It's an insightful conversation that indicates that Maximum Football may be the breakout rookie that the veteran Madden series will need to account for the next time it's on the field.