NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #294 (Sunday, December 22 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 — "Are you listening?" — is a somewhat seasonal puzzle.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #294, 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 #294, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #294.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #294 is... "Are you listening?"

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Christmas radio."

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

  • TALKING
  • WINGS
  • WIND
  • BEND
  • WREN
  • TOWEL
  • WINK

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

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's WINTERWONDERLAND.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #294?

Drumroll, please...

  • BELLS
  • SNOW
  • GLISTENNING
  • SLEIGH
  • WALKING

Strands #294

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was WINTERWONDERLAND.

Strands #294

“Are you listening?”

🔵💡🔵🟡

🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. I found today's puzzle rather tricky, even when I figured out what it was about. Although I, of course, know the song 'Winter Wonderland', it's kind of background musak to me, and I've never really paid attention to the lyrics before.

That made getting the answers a bit of trial and error, but I started well enough by finding the word BELLS even before I even knew the theme of "Are you listening?" related to the song. At this point, I assumed it was maybe festive things you could hear, but after a fruitless search I used a clue.

This revealed SNOW and, given you can't hear snow, I realized this had to be about something else. When I saw the word "wonder", I remembered the existence of the song, and connected the spangram of WINTERWONDERLAND.

Now it was a case of racking my brains for the other lyrics. Something about snow GLISTENNING? Check! Found it at the bottom to complete that side of the board.

Nearly there, as the spangram took up a huge section of the board! When I found SLEIGH in the top left, I remembered the chorus: We're WALKING in a winter wonderland! I connected it to complete the puzzle with just the one clue used.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #293 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.

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