Today's NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 28, #786

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles. Today's NYT Strands puzzle is pretty tough. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on. I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET's NYT puzzle hints page. Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far Hint for today's Strands puzzle Today's Strands theme is: Attention, attention!If that doesn't help you, here's a clue: Look! Clue words to unlock in-game hints Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle's theme. If you're stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work: HOLE, THAW, LIKE, LIKEN, BONE, TIME, TIRE, HIRE, YELL, BELL, SELL Answers for today's Strands puzzle These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: WATCH, BEHOLD, EYEBALL, MONITOR, OBSERVE, WITNESS Today's Strands spangram The completed NYT Strands puzzle for April 28, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNETToday's Strands spangram is LIKEAHAWK. To find it, start with the L that is six letters down on the far-left row, and wind across.Toughest Strands puzzlesHere are some of the Strands topics I've found to be the toughest.#1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn't even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.#2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT. #3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.Get CNET's top-rated VPN for privacy & usability See at ExpressVPN

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at CNET.