Letter Boxed is a little more cerebral. I did LB in 3 words yesterday and today.

Yeah, I like LetterBoxed better.

Strands #1
“Mark my words”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Strands #1
“Mark my words”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵


Interesting. Not sure this would be in my normal rotation, but it's an ok time waster.

---

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

I hate word puzzles. I suck a scrabble.

Strands #1
“Mark my words”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵💡🔵
💡🟡

Strands #1
“Mark my words”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

---

_____
TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

Tip for Scrabble... you know how they have that blank tile that you can use as a substitute for any letter? i.e. if only you had that letter, you'd have a great word to play.

So, take any letter tile you may have, and place that on the board face down so the blank side is up. Claim it's the blank tile and you're using it to complete a word. Of course when you try this for the 7th time in a game, folks' may catch on that something's fishy. :-)

Of course, above is all in pink. Cheating not condoned.

So, Strands seemed like an easy game. At least today, for me. I'll give myself a few days to see if it's got enough to sustain interest.

I think it's probably more impressive to come up with a way to arrange a bunch of letters into a grid, where all letters must be used, to form a set of related words, plus a theme word.

Seems like creating the puzzle could be the greater challenge.

Strands #2
“She’ll have a ball”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Strands #2
“She’ll have a ball”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵


Wondering if these get harder over the week, like the crosswords. Seems easy enough so far.

I think this is a relatively easy puzzle to make. Just need to find some words with a total number of letters n, and n needs to fit into an x-by-y grid that's square-ish (7x8 is fine, but 2x28 is not). Shoving the letters to the grid is trivial after that since horizontal, vertical, and diagonal moves are all valid.

---

Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Strands #2
“She’ll have a ball”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

---

The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Strands #3
“I gotta dip!”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Strands #3
“I gotta dip!”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #3
“I gotta dip!”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

Strands #3
“I gotta dip!”
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵

Yes, on second thought, you're right. n letters into x*y grid then ...

But there is some element to "hiding" the letters to make it a challenge. Just placing the words sequentially left-right would be trivially easy. And randomly dropping letters into the grid wouldn't work. Given that letters have to be contiguous, you just need to make sure you leave enough space in the grid to be able to fit the next word(s). i.e. packing the words so they fit. A bit like tetris with words.

Which means after you've found the first few words, the game gets easier -- as you just have to scan the untouched "areas" for a word, and you kinda also have a theme emerging by that point. The hardest part would be the start and finding a valid word.

Strands #4
“Don’t do it!”
🔵🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡

Strands #4
“Don’t do it!”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵💡🟡

I found the yellow word as two separate words. That is not all one word. I’m kind of over this game.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Same result. I promise I didn't look at your answers



Strands #4
“Don’t do it!”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵💡🟡

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I’ll still give it a week…

I was wondering why ‘sins’ wasn’t registering for me. Learned in the rules that the theme could be two words, and goes from one end of the grid to the other. Saw ‘cardinal’ and that made sense.

Strands #4
“Don’t do it!”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡


Being a non-christian, after the first two I had to look it up.

Great minds think alike.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Strands #5
“Do the do”
🔵🔵💡🔵
🟡💡🔵🔵
🔵

Seems like it gets more challenging over the week..

Strands #5
“Do the do”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Try to get the spangram first. Even better, do it without looking at the theme.

Strands #5
“Do the do”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

I saw mohawk right away but took forever to finay the rest. The only other two hairstyles I could think of were flat top and afro.

Strands #5
“Do the do”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #5
“Do the do”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡


I haven't been to a barber in 25 years. Even with the braids hint it took me a long time to spell it!

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

---

Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
💡🔵🔵💡
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵




I simply didn't get the theme until the 4th or 5th word.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Now I get it … spangram word as it spans end to end.

Strands #6
“FRAGILE: handle with care”
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🟡

Last time playing it. I hate it.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Jury's still out for me...

Seems like:
- It's easier in the beginning of the week, then a bit more challenging as the week goes on.
- I like KL's tip of going for the theme early, as the theme touches one end of the grid to the other. "Span"gram (duh).
- That tip helps find the valid words... especially early in the game when there are more words to see, but not all are related to the theme.
- As you find words, the others come easier as the search space is smaller ... and you also have a theme.

It's got me.. for at least another day.

Some days they jump right out.

Strands #7
“Sounds good to me”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

This one was tough

Strands #8
“To put it mildly”
💡🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡

Strands #8
“To put it mildly”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Was looking for a mild-spice-cooking theme at first for some reason, then caught on.

... some info from NYT folks... Personally, I don't see why GORF makes sense as a strategy or be permissible.

Strands #8
“To put it mildly”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🟡

---

===============
Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Strands #9
“Ruler’s decree”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

---

Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Strands #9
“Ruler’s decree”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #9
“Ruler’s decree”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵

Saw reign and looked for a different type of ruler… used a hint to straighten that out.

Strands #9
“Ruler’s decree”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵

Strands #10
“One thousand followers”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵🟡


OK, I still do get it. Aside from the spanagram, I didn't find a single word without a clue.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #10
“One thousand followers”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵

Difficult start … lots of staring at it.

Strands #10
“One thousand followers”
💡🔵🔵💡
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵


I had to use 3 hints and I still don't know what the theme is.

I am impressed you found new hint words with only two words left. This is the first puzzle that I had to use one hint, let alone three.

Spoiler alert ....





Theme is words that follow "grand ____" grand jury, grand slam, etc. And if you do the spangram last, it's the grand finale.

And grand is also a reference to 1000.

 
Glad I wasn’t the only one who struggled with this. And I still don’t understand the theme. Presumably something to do with a tv talent show?

Thank you, it was driving me nuts

Grand Rapids is even local to me.

Thanks for that. I thought 'grand canyon' but it just didn't click in my head.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #10
“One thousand followers”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡💡🔵💡
🔵🔵

Glad to see I wasn’t to only one who struggled with this one.

5 hints before I clued in.

Strands #10
“One thousand followers”
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Same here.

Strands #10
“One thousand followers”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🟡🔵💡🔵
🔵

---

===============
Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Clean sweep!

Strands #11
“Get animated”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #11
“Get animated”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

Straightforward today.

Yup. Easy peasy.

Strands #11
“Get animated”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Took a couple seconds to get going

Strands #11
“Get animated”
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵

The theme threw me off a bit, I was thinking of old haunts as places you commonly hang out.

Strands #12
“Old haunts”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #12
“Old haunts”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🟡🔵


I couldn't spell the last one to save my life. I was working on it from before the hint!

Strands #12
“Old haunts”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵

Didn’t need hints on this one.

Strands #13
“Grow up!”
💡🔵🔵💡
🔵🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵


OK, I got the theme but how they went about it is questionable.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #13
“Grow up!”
🔵🔵🔵💡
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵

Blood, parent, parental were my non valid words that I thought would fit. Then I saw frog and looked for tadpole …

Strands #13
“Grow up!”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵

I got adult, sheep and frog and was very confused for a bit.

Strands #14
“Outside interests”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Strands #14
“Outside interests”
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #14
“Outside interests”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

I thought I saw forest as I was going for outdoors things, but got the spanagram first. Then it was stupid easy.

Strands #14
“Outside interests”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵


Easiest one so far.

I don't know if it was my easiest. But this was one of the easier ones for sure.

Strands #15
“World piece”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #16
“That’s fortunate”
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🔵🟡🔵


I had two spanagrams.....well one official but there was a second word that spanned end-to-end.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #16
“That’s fortunate”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵

Strands #16
“That’s fortunate”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵

Seeing lots of additional other words in the grid today.

Strands #17
“Back and forth”
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡


Took a minute to get the theme

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

This one jumped out at me today. Found NOON and the next word I saw was PALINDROME. Ut was easy after that.

Strands #17
“Back and forth”
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #17
“Back and forth”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

I’m an idiot. Got the theme and thought I’d breeze through the rest. Stuck on the upper right looking for one word….

cinovonic is not a word…. Bc the answers are noon and civic.

I don't know what I'm missing but I can't get the last word. It's in the lower right-hand corner the letters are AARRCCE. I even went to Word Finder and they say a seven letter word does not exist.

very quickly, it's a combination of two words....

Helps that you know it is a palindrome. Once you put the e in the middle spot there are not many combinations of A, C and R to try at either end.

---

===============
Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Ah! Got it, thanks. Soon as you see it seems so obvious.

Strands #18
“What’s the issue? ”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵🔵🟡
💡🔵🔵


Clearly I don't spend enough time in front of the periodicals section.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Yeah, I used two hints. I found 6 words before I finally figured out what the topic was.

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #18
“What’s the issue? ”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

No issues for me

Strands #18
“What’s the issue? ”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵


took me 3 hints to figure it out

Strands #19
“Animal sounds”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #19
“Animal sounds”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Choral / coral stumped me as an assoc with animal…. The rest made sense.

Strands #19
“Animal sounds”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵🔵

I only found three on my own :-(



Strands #20
“Romeo and Juliet”
💡🔵🔵💡
🔵🔵💡🔵
🔵💡🔵🟡

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #20
“Romeo and Juliet”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🟡

Strands #20
“Romeo and Juliet”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Bam.

Took forever though.

---

===============
Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Even the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and then

Strands #21
“Lock steps”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵


I was thinking parades or canals. Hair care was the furthest from my mind but somehow saw moisturize then lather.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #21
“Lock steps”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

---

===============
Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Strands #22
“Sign language”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵

Lots of words that could be sign related, but didn’t count… used a couple of hints to get going.

Strands #22
“Sign language”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵


I got three right before I figure out the theme. Unfortunately I know the names of the signs more than the characters they represent so it took a while.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I bounced around looking and seeing words having to do with to coaching signals, signs of the zodiac, sign language literally, and eventually got images/logos thing...

Strands #23
“That’s fantastic!”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🟡🔵💡🔵
🔵


meh.....the theme clues suck.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #23
“That’s fantastic!”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵

Agreed. Struggled today even with hints.

Ogre came up and I saw ergo instead.
Dragon came up and I couldn’t see it. Dr.naog? Gonadr? Wtf?

LOL, I was left with POLYCC, took me forever to finally figure out CYCLOPS.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

i found the opposite. yesterday was tough for me. today's was easy. got it in under 10min. got the first clue, then got the solution, then the others followed quickly. no hints. but yesterday was a ball buster.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #23
“That’s fantastic!”
💡🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Strands #24
“This is where I draw the line”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵


Etch and tracing are not answers....go figure.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

this took me a little longer than yesterday's but once i got a couple it went pretty smoothly. wonder how hard it would be to construct one of these.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

There's some discussion on the first page about whether it's easy/difficult to create a puzzle. I think packing the right words for a theme so it fits is the trick. And playing the game, the hardest part is getting started.

Strands #25
“Off the shelf”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡


Twasn't easy.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #25
“Off the shelf”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵

Started well and words flew off the shelf for me.

this one was the easiest yet for me. 5min start to finish. the first solution i got contained no diagonals, which made it easy to find, and then i knew what to look for.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Big 'ol fail today. I got one word on my own - LIAISON. Had to look at the answers
.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

today was (for me) tougher than yesterday. but if you got that word you should find others. you found what might be the hardest word of the lot.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I had to use four hints today, I’ve never used more than one. So much for all those French lessons I took last year!

Strands #26
“Pardon my French!”
🔵🔵🔵💡
🔵🟡🔵🔵

I’m counting this as a hint free run. Fat-fingered the hint button when spelling ‘bureau’ in the lower left corner.

The theme was clear too, this time.

Strands #27
“Camouflage”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #27
“Camouflage”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵🟡🔵

Quick start finding animals… then got stuck…used a hint and spotted the spangram … and then the dog…

I saw the lights..

Strands #28
“It’s lit!”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

Strands #29
“What’s so funny?”
💡🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵

Titter might be my new favorite word. PRoof again I never matured (mentally) past 15 years old.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #29
“What’s so funny?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵

Chuckle - that’s really hidden well. Theme helped finding it.

Today's was way too easy. 4 minutes. Yesterday's was a lot harder.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #30
“Rolling in the aisles”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

This was pretty quick for me

I guessed either grocery store or wedding as the point of the theme, but still struggled a bit.

Strands #30
“Rolling in the aisles”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

i think each one strikes certain folks as easy and others as hard. this one was the easiest yet for me. 2 minutes start to finish. others i just toil over.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #31
“Play time!”
💡🔵💡🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I am stuck on the last show. Sitting in the upper right corner. Just isn’t coming to me.

I have the same problem.

---

Suffer Well.

That was my last word too, once I saw it, I didn't even know it was a name of Broadway play. Cleary I am not refined.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

this was a little tougher than yesterday. 9 minutes. it took me 5 minutes to get the first, and then the others fell into place.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #31
“Play time!”
💡🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Burned a hint to get started… and it was Cats. Still ambiguous regarding playful.

How is it broadway relayed, and ‘actor’ is not a valid word? Nit picky.

i have decided that i shall not take hints. start the clock. go. when no more letters remain uncommitted to a word or phrase, stop. look at clock. just like STRAVA.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Hints are weakness.

---

Suffer Well.

Well then look at this weak sauce

Strands #32
“Consumerism”
💡🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🟡


IMO the stands themes are shit. Usually too ambiguous.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #32
“Consumerism”
🔵🔵🔵💡
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵

I piled so many words into the hint bank that I fat fingered the hint button to reveal a word… but otherwise a decent run.

Makes sense and the only way to go if you have a clock running. Otherwise hard to adjust for using hints - 1min penalty per hint or something? Ain’t nobody got time for keeping track .

Strands #33
“Am I blushing?”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵


Took forever to get my last two words.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Took all of one minute for the first 4, still can't get the last two.

it took me 3 minutes to get the 1st word, then the 2nd came pretty much immediately, then i got the theme, and then i was stuck for a minute or 2. 7 minutes total from start to finish.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #33
“Am I blushing?”
🔵💡🔵🔵
💡🔵💡🟡
🔵


So much for my aging neuroplasticity. ( Good mental workout ) The theme really threw me for a loop. It's diabolical how the clue can lock you into a mindset of search and recognition. I thought I had it locked in but it was all over the board from fruits to color to animals and warnings. The way one can connect letters make it difficult for me to pull words out of the pattern. I like this game more than Wordle.

i got my first word, then i thought it was all about red or pink wines. i was looking for merlot, rose, bordeaux, pinot, didn't see any of that.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #33
“Am I blushing?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡

Hint free run

Today’s is the easiest one yet.

Strands #34
“Picture this”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

 

Strands #34
“Picture this”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #34
“Picture this”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Agreed

Definitely the easiest out of the four times I've played. Ugh! I would have gotten the spanogram as the first word but I just missed the y. I first did photograph and couldn't believe it came up as a hint followed by photo with the same result. It started me second guessing what I thought the theme was.
Strands #34
“Picture this”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵

As soon as I saw that it was Picture this I thought if there is a PH beside each other look for photo. Then I saw it went all the way to photography.

After that it was dead simple.

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #35
“This’ll all blow over”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Took a while to find a word. Then it was easy.

Strands #35
“This’ll all blow over”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #35
“This’ll all blow over”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

Blew right through it easily

Strands #36
“It goes by fast”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #36
“It goes by fast”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Took no time at all

Strands #36
“It goes by fast”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵


This is the first one I didn't need to use a hint on. Do they usually make the spanogram more obtuse than the other words? All the other words were measurements of time. I saw time, timer but I had to get almost all the other words solved before I could put together timepieces.

Strands #36
“It goes by fast”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵

Strands #37
“Can I have my quarter back?”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵


Someone needs to tell the nerds at the NY Times, quarterback is one word.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #37
“Can I have my quarter back?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

Yeah, theme was not that helpful once you get going

Strands #37
“Can I have my quarter back?”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡


The spanagram was stupid

That was a shit show.. I'm getting better at finding words in the atypical patterns but these bastards and how they screw with my mind in the words for the theme..... atiStrands #37
“Can I have my quarter back?”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵💡🔵🟡pical

Lol. That’s an …. impressive … number of words you put into your hint bank there.

Strands #38
“In closing”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵


This one fits nicely in the "Never Again!" thread.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #38
“In closing”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵

Sign off could’ve also worked as the spangram

Strands #39
“It’s all in your head”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵

Well done. Spectacular failure on my end today.

Strands #39
“It’s all in your head”
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵🟡🔵
🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I got most of them pretty quick but couldn’t figure out the last word in the upper left corner. I eventually gave up and cheated using a scrabble website. I would have never got it.

Strands #39
“It’s all in your head”
🔵💡🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵


Much better today although I really struggled with reverie and glad that was the exposed hint word. That's very cagey for the theme ( to me ) also very close to revelry. Illusion was also difficult, and it was the last word left. I'm getting a little better at dealing with the complexity of forming patterns in this non traditional way but it's still a challenge. ( Which is good ) I've always had a dichotomy when it comes to the English language. I was terrible at spelling and grammar but excelled at vocabulary and reading comprehension. This reminds me of something that would be in Lumosity.

Strands #41
“Group think”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Saw the theme, and was trying to complete juror, juries, … which turned out to be journey. Then it clicked for me.

Today's was the first game that I didn't find any words that weren't part of the solution.

No hints or partial hints earned.

---

Suffer Well.

Strands #42
“Join the club!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

Theme makes perfect sense, after finding any valid word

Agreed. But I wasn’t looking that kind of club.

Strands #42
“Join the club!”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #42
“Join the club!”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵


I missed yesterday. This was the first time I didn't have to use a clue. I was thinking cocktail, math, chess and then maybe weapons (lol). Nothing I could make anything out of. I found sand and many (which went into the hint cache) then I found bacon and it clicked, I saw turkey. It took off. If I hadn't used sand as a word, I might not have gotten the spanogram third. All the other words were ingredients or condiments. It seems like the spanogram is a collective summation of the other words but not quite the same. At least from the hand full of times I've played.

Right … the spangram is a more direct expression of the theme. And it spans one end to the other (took me a few plays to realize).

Strands #43
“This and that”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵

Once I found a pair, it made sense

Strands #43
“This and that”
🔵🔵🔵💡
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵


Yeah, that was tricky. I was just collecting words for a hint and I had give come up as a word and I was getting other words but it was still meaningless to me until the hint word corresponded to one of the words I had found, it got much easier then because once you got another word you knew what else you had to look for providing you're familiar with the sayings.

Yesterday's was depressingly easy. Today's kicked my butt a little bit.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Strands #43
“This and that”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵


It didn't make sense until I read your comment :) I'm just thinking we have random word day.

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

I had no clue what was going on today. Found some words, could not see the connections. Used a ton of hints. Finally managed to figure it out.

I feel stupid. Thanks NYT.

Strands #43
“This and that”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🟡

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #44
“On the grid”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵


Got lucky and thought 'electrical' so found that first word quick.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #44
“On the grid”
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵

Don’t think I recall seeing connected letters that crossed paths before

Me either. Dead simple today.

Strands #44
“On the grid”
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #44
“On the grid”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵


That's the best I've done so far. Didn't even have one word that went into the hint cache.

Needed a nudge

Strands #45
“The long run”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #45
“The long run”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵


I'm on a roll, The theme was exactly what I thought it would be and soon as I looked at the board I saw the first couple of letters that made up the spanagram and knew what the word must be. This is right up a Slowtwitcher's alley.

Strands #45
“The long run”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Strands #46
“Sew what?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Unlike most days, the theme was pretty unambiguous today. So much that getting the Spanogram last wasn’t an issue.

Strands #46
“Sew what?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵


Two days in a row the theme seemed pretty clear to me. Makes the game much more doable without hints.

Yeah, two easy days. Saw the spangram on first move yesterday. Saw all words easily today.

Strands #46
“Sew what?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵💡🔵🔵
🟡

Strands #47
“Get to work!”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵


Fell ass-backward into this one. Saw the first half of the spanagram right away and just kept going. After than the rest of words were easy to see.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #47
“Get to work!”
💡🔵🔵🔵
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🟡🔵


took forever to figure it out

Strands #47
“Get to work!”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Saw the theme, then traffic, didn’t get stuck.

Strands #47
“Get to work!”
🔵🔵💡🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵
Something must be wrong with their copy function. I found music and was perplexed then traffic. I started thinking commute, commuter, train, carpool. I took the hint and got talk. Then it hemmed in what would be a vertical spanagram ending in time. It dawned on me it was about the radio.

When I had a daily drive commuting into work in NY, I used to listen to a local radio station that had the catch phrase, “You give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world.” In that block of time, they would hit all of the stuff mentioned in todays puzzle. Except maybe comedy.

Strands #48
“Walk this way”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Maybe the easiest one so far

Strands #48
“Walk this way”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵

Strands #48
“Walk this way”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Yup. Like a walk in the park

Strands #48
“Walk this way”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡


I have to admit, the first word I was looking for was Aerosmith, and briefly Monty Python. : )

Strands #49
“That’s life!”
💡🔵💡🔵
🔵🔵🔵💡
🔵🔵🟡


Chalking this one up to 3/4 of a failure. I didn't get theme until word #6

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #49
“That’s life!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Thought it was going to be a car thing after drive, re-tire, miles (not valid). Then caught on.

Strands #49
“That’s life!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵


That was very straight forward for me but I found graduate first.

Strands #50
“Character class”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵
🔵


Needed that first hint today.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #50
“Character class”
💡
Nice job finding the theme words 🔵 and Spangram 🟡. You used 1 hint 💡.


Not sure why the "share your results key" wasn't working. Definitely tough for me. I had to look up the meaning of the clue word I got. Never heard of mage. Then found rogue and was thinking classes of subs or ships. My first two words created the ceiling for the spanagram and once I found that I got on the right track but it was still difficult. If you played D&D this probably would be right up your alley.

I likely only knew what a 'mage' was from watching The Witcher.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #51
“As easy as pie”
💡🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #51
“As easy as pie”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵

Strands #52
“This is a puzzle”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵

Was wondering why brainteaser wasn’t the spangram… then saw it

Strands #52
“This is a puzzle”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵


Yeah, I knew it was brain because of my other two guesses. It was a very circuitous route to get the whole word.

I found brainteaser two different ways before I went off and found a few more answers around the teaser part.

Strands #53
“That’s cap!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Amongst their easier ones

Strands #53
“That’s cap!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strands #53
“That’s cap!”
💡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵


I read it as "That's a cap!" and was thinking in terms of wrapping things up. When it dawned on me that there was no "a" I overthought it and was looking for the slang meaning, lying or exaggerating. Once I got the hint it was very clear what the theme was.

Strands #53
“That’s cap!”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Pretty easy today if you ever learned how to read music.

Strands #54
“Staff members”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🟡🔵🔵

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I had a hint all ready to go when I tried 'clef'.


Strands #54
“Staff members”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I spotted flat right away and knew where it was going.

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I have never learned to read music. There were two answers that I have never associated with music, but at least they didn’t put in the Italian terms.

Strands #54
“Staff members”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵💡🔵
💡🔵

Strands #54
“Staff members”
🔵💡🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵


Yeah, that was tricky for me. I was thinking team, employee.... then when I was finding random words for a clue and flat turned out to be a word, I had no idea what the theme was. When I did use my hint it gave me clef. Then I knew it was about music but other than basic terms like sharp and flat I am not familiar with much music terminology.

Yeah I would think I’m that it’s not so easy if you didn’t learn to read music.

I grew up in the Salvation Army and was handed a horn to play when I was 7. Pretty much every kid who grew up attending the Salvation Army will have a musical background.

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Strands #54
“Staff members”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵

Last music class was in middle school. Got sharp and flat in the corners and thought, well that’s the extent of my knowledge for the theme.

Some of it came back, but basically muddled through it to finish.

Strands #55
“Call me?”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵


Call me? I found Queen right away and thought, oh hell yeah 80's bands or musics, this will be easy. I was way off. Thankfully the next couple words I found I figured I'd bank for a clue but got lucky and they were answers.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody