NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #389 (Thursday, March 27 2025)
Need help with Strands #389? Here are some hints and the answers

Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "Playing the field" — is really only easy if you're in the United States.
Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #389, 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 #389, so read on if you need a little help.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #389.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #389 is... "Playing the field".
And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Take me out to the ball game".
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- GILT
- EARL
- ANGEL
- BADGER
- DRONE
- RAGE
- TRIP
- GRAVE
Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with N and ends with E.
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Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's NATIONALLEAGUE.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #389?
Drumroll, please...
- BRAVE
- GIANT
- DODGER
- MARLIN
- PIRATE
- BREWER
...and the spangram was NATIONALEAGUE.
Strands #389
“Playing the field”
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Hi Strands fans. Today's puzzle is really tough if you're outside the USA. Even though I guessed it would be about baseball from the theme of "Playing the field", it didn't occur to me that it would be about team names.
I had to use two clues that first revealed BRAVE and then GIANT. If it weren't for the fact that I had briefly dated a girl from Georgia, I may not have made the link, but thankfully I did. Atlanta Braves, and New York Giants. Right, this is definitely about baseball.
I racked my brain for other teams I'd heard of. The Los Angeles Dodgers came to mind, and I found DODGER in the middle of the grid.
The shape of the word made me think the spangram would be coiled around it, and with a little trial and error I was able to connect NATIONALLEAGUE.
Helpfully, that left MARLIN to connect in the middle, which is just as well as I'd not heard of the Miami Marlins (apologies to those offended, baseball just isn't popular in the UK!)
Two were left to find at the top of the board, and thankfully I got PIRATE (Pittsburgh) in the right quickly, which just left BREWER (Milwaukee) on the right to complete the puzzle.
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #388 right here.
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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