NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #290 (Wednesday, December 18 2024)

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

Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "You say you want a revolution" — might not be what you think it's about at a first glance.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #290, 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 #290, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #290.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #290 is... "You say you want a revolution".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Let's rotate."

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

  • TONER
  • SALT
  • BASS
  • FEAR
  • SPIEL
  • FINAL

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

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's SPINNERS.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #290?

Drumroll, please...

  • DRYER
  • TIRES
  • EARTH
  • FOOTBALL
  • PINWHEEL
  • BALLERINA

Strands #290

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was SPINNERS.

Strands #290

“You say you want a revolution”

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Hi Strands fans. Although today's theme - "You say you want a revolution" - refers to a Beatles song about, well, revolution, the puzzle itself has nothing to do with either violent uprisings or music.

Instead, it's about things that rotate - something which escaped me at first, forcing me to take a clue which revealed DRYER. I'm pleased to say that I cottoned onto the meaning straight away with this and found TIRES diagonally below it in the bottom-left corner.

Unfortunately, my mind was a blank about things that spin, despite seeing both the words "spin" and "wheel" in the mix, so I had to use another clue. This time, I was shown EARTH which, I must confess, is on a scale I wasn't really thinking about.

Going down in size again, I found FOOTBALL to its left, which cleared enough space to get the spangram: SPINNERS, written from bottom to top backwards.

Two answers were left. It turns out that "wheel" was part of PINWHEEL in the top left, and the bottom right was filled with BALLERINA.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #289 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.