NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #69 (Saturday, May 11 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 — "It's a date" — is a little bit cryptic, and one of the words is downright devious.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #69, 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 #69, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #69.  

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #69 is... "It's a date".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: School's out forever.

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

  • BOON
  • TIER
  • MORE
  • DOSE
  • TIRE
  • CONE
  • TONE

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with 'P' and ends with 'T'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's PROMNIGHT.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #69?

Drumroll, please...

  • DRESS
  • TUXEDO
  • DANCE
  • COURT
  • CORSAGE
  • BOUTONNIERE

Strands #69

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was PROMNIGHT.

Clues used: 0.

🔵🟡🔵🔵

🔵🔵🔵

Hello Strands fans. Not too bad this one, but there is one devious word that I'd not heard of before.

When I saw the theme "It's a date!" I began thinking of things like roses, chocolates and wine. It was actually about proms, which only became apparent when I got my first word on the board: DRESS.

From there, I spotted the spangram PROMNIGHT spelled backwards from right to left across the grid and things began to fall into place. The 'X', it turned out, was part of TUXEDO and DANCE was nestled just below that.

COURT and CORSAGE completed the top segment, which left just one word in the bottom section. I'd never heard of the word BOUTONNIERE before, but after a period of irritating trial and error, I got there in the end without using a clue.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #68 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.