NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #396 (Thursday, April 3 2025)

News
By published

Need help with Strands #396? Here are some hints and the answers

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

1. Today's hints

2. Today's answer

3. Yesterday's answer

Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "Get the bug" — isn't exactly subtle, but the answers are still a little tricky to collate.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #396, 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 #396, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #396.

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #396 is... "Get the bug".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Six legs good".

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

  • NINTH
  • SKINT
  • SPATE
  • LANDS
  • MIGHT
  • KNITS
  • PASTA

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

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's ENTOMOLOGY.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #396?

Drumroll, please...

  • DOODLE
  • ASSASSIN
  • POTATO
  • STINK
  • LADY
  • LIGHTNING

Strands #396

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was ENTOMOLOGY.

Strands #396

“Get the bug”

🟡🔵🔵🔵

🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. Today's theme - "Get the bug" - is about as transparent as it gets. The only issue was remembering how to spell ENTOMOLOGY, which I pretty immediately spotted as the spangram.

So, insects then. I found DOODLE in the bottom-right corner, and realized this was specifically going to be about insects with the word 'bug' at the end.

This made things trickier, especially with the lingual difficulties I occasionally have with American terms, from my desk in London.

Still, I gamely muddled through. ASSASSIN wasn't a species I'd heard of, but the word was right there under the spangram. That just left POTATO in the bottom-left corner to complete the half.

Moving onto the top half, I found STINK in the top-right corner and LADY to its left. That just left LIGHTNING - another species I hadn't heard of - 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 #395 right here.

See more Gaming News
Alan Martin
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.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.