NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #116 (Thursday, June 27 2024)

NYT Strands on a cellphone
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide/NY Times/Shutterstock)
Strands today: Quick menu

Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? Today's puzzle theme — "Better together" — is somewhat cryptic, but the answers should come thick and fast once you decode it.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #116, as well as the answers, should it come to that. We'll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #116, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #116.  

Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints

The official theme for NYT Strands #116 is... "Better together".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Tasty mixes."

If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:

  • BOMBER
  • NAILS
  • MOST
  • CUTS
  • BRIE
  • BILE
  • MOAN
  • BIAS

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with 'C' and ends with 'S'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's COMBOMEALS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #116?

Drumroll, please...

  • FRIES
  • BURGER
  • CHEESE
  • GRAVY
  • BISCUITS
  • MACARONI

Strands #116

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was COMBOMEALS.

Strands #116

“Better together”

🔵🔵🔵🔵

🔵🟡🔵

Hey Strands fans. Ooh, a nice tricky one today. When I saw the clue - "Better together" - I was immediately thrown back to Strands #93 where individual words combined (e.g: "divide" and "conquer").

Today, it was all about foods that combine well, but I didn't get that right away. I spent much of the time scanning the board for any words at all, but I eventually came up with FRIES in the bottom left, and I knew it was all about meal combos. 

What goes with FRIES? BURGER of course, and I found that starting a little above it. I then saw CHEESE to FRIES' right, but I couldn't immediately think of a combo. I did get GRAVY next, but I wasn't convinced this was going to be about the Canadian dish poutine.

In fact, it was BISCUITS, just a little above it. With that, I had cleared enough of the board to see the spangram, loud and clear: COMBOMEALS.

Only the partner of CHEESE to find, and I unravelled the remaining letters in the top-right corner to spell MACARONI and complete the puzzle for another day.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #115 right here.

Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.