NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Saturday, May 11 (game #69)

Marc McLaren
·2 min read
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background.
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background.

The weekend starts with a standard Strands puzzle – by which I mean that it's pretty tricky. That's the default for this game, which puts the old gray matter to the test every single day. If you need a little help, you'll find it below in the form of some hints, and I've also got the Strands answers and my commentary on the game if you just want to see them.

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 #69) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… It's a date!

NYT Strands today (game #69) - hint #2 - clue words

What are some good clue words today?

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

• SAUTE

• ROSE

• PART

• DOTE

• EXCESS

• SUCCESS

NYT Strands today (game #69) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Going to a party

NYT Strands today (game #69) - hint #4 - spangram position

What two sides of the board does today's spangram touch?

• First: right, 5th row

• Second: left, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #69) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 69 on a blue background
NYT Strands answers for game 69 on a blue background

The answers to today's Strands, game #69, are…

  • TUXEDO

  • CORSAGE

  • DANCE

  • DRESS

  • COURT

  • BOUTONNIERE

  • SPANGRAM: PROMNIGHT

  • My rating: Moderate

  • My score: Perfect

I'm only marking this one as moderate because here in the UK, prom night is not really a thing, or at least it wasn't when I was growing up. My experience of it is therefore almost entirely from watching US TV and movies, and sadly 'bucket of pigs blood falling over the prom queen' was not on the list.

Fortunately, PROMNIGHT itself, the spangram, was easy enough to find, and most of the others were relatively straightforward. That said, if it hadn't been for the fact that BOUTONNIERE was on its own at the bottom of the board below PROMNIGHT, I'd have had no chance of finding it; I've literally never heard that word before.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 10 May, game #68)

  • LAUNCH

  • REENTRY

  • SPLASHDOWN

  • ORBIT

  • ENCOUNTER

  • SPANGRAM: SPACEFLIGHT

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's currently in Beta and 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.