Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? Today's puzzle — "American pastime" — isn't too difficult to decode, even as a Brit, but which particular area of the topic may prove harder to pin down.
Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #73, 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 #73, so read on if you need a little help.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #73.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #73 is... "American pastime".
And here's an unofficial hint from me: Are you going to the game?
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- MEAT
- SOUND
- BELL
- BAIN
- METAL
- GUTS
Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with 'B' and ends with 'K'.
Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's BALLPARK.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #73?
Drumroll, please...
- MOUND
- PLATE
- STANDS
- BASE
- INFIELD
- BULLPEN
- DUGOUT
...and the spangram was BALLPARK.
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵🔵🔵
Hi Strands fans. Even as a Brit with no interest in baseball, I breezed through this today. The hardest bit was figuring out which part of the sport the puzzle was looking for, and I was briefly worried when I got up to BALLPLA in my hunt for "ballplayers".
But then I realized it was about parts of the pitch (and, it would turn out, stadium), and I was in my element. I spotted MOUND in the bottom-left corner, and then PLATE immediately above it, and I was on my way. STANDS and BASE quickly followed.
I had enough at this point to see that the BALLP I'd been tracing earlier in my hunt for "ballplayers" was actually part of BALLPARK, which was revealed to be the spangram.
The remaining three were all now isolated around the confirmed words, so even if I was unfamiliar, I'd have been able to muddle through. I found INFIELD snaking around the spangram, and BULLPEN in the bottom right with no other free letters.
That left just DUGOUT in the top left-hand corner - one of the few words used where I'm sat in the UK for soccer stadiums.
A fun one, that. More like this, please NYT!
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #72 right here.
