NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, July 14 (game #133)

I struggled a bit with today’s Strands puzzle, for reasons which I go into below. Before that, though, you can check out my hints for the game if you need them.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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 #133) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Say my name

NYT Strands today (game #133) – hint #2 – clue words

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

• MOAN
• SLANT
• STALE
• LAST
• THORN
• POLL

NYT Strands today (game #133) – hint #3 – spangram

What is a hint for today’s spangram?

• Sounds familiar

NYT Strands today (game #133) – hint #4 – spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?

• First: top, 4th column

• Last: bottom, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #133) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #133, are…

• MERRY
• WHINNY
• GALE
• FILL
• PEAT
• HAIRY
• RUSTLE
• ATOM
• SPANGRAM: HOMOPHONES

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• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

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I’m a little confused by this Strands puzzle. On the face of it, it’s straightforward enough – the answers are all name homophones, for instance GALE is GAIL, FILL is PHIL, PEAT is PETE. But some are marginal at best. HAIRY kind of sounds like HARRY, but it’s not really a homphone. Same with MERRY – MARY? And then there’s ATOM, which I don’t get at all. Is that a homophone for ADAM? For TOM? In fact, I ran each word through the excellent Rhymezone homophones finder, and it provided results for all except WHINNY (which I’m sure is WINNY) and ATOM. I genuinely don’t know what that one is supposed to be.

Still, this was otherwise a good Strands puzzle. I always like homophones as a topic for the game, and this one was challenging without being impossible. More of this please.

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

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Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday 13 July, game #132)

• TORTOISESHELL
• TUXEDO
• TABBY
• BLACK
• CALICO
• ORANGE
• SPANGRAM: FURCOAT

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What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable 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.