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NYT Games Moves Strands Out of Beta and Into the Official App

The tricky but addictive word-find game will be easier to find and play now.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
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Gael Cooper
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New York Times Strands word game

Strands is moving into the NY Times Games app, along with siblings like Wordle and Connections.

 James Martin/CNET

Strands is moving up to the big leagues. The New York Times online game is joining Wordle, Connections and other popular computer puzzles in the newspaper's Games app, the company announced on Tuesday. I didn't immediately see Strands in the app on my phone, but it's expected to be there shortly.

A representative for The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for an exact date Strands will be in the app.

Strands was introduced in beta form in March, meaning it was still being tested, and was not available in the Games app, only on the Times' desktop or mobile sites. It's updated daily, and presents players with a grid of letters like those in those old-fashioned Word Find books they used to sell in every grocery-store checkout lane.

Players are given a theme, but no list of words. You can earn hints by finding any words of four letters or more -- three of those earns you one revealed theme word. There's also a word called the Spangram, which spans the length of the puzzle grid, and describes that day's game theme.

Read more: NYT Strands Is the Latest Must-Play Daily Online Game: How to Win

"Strands is currently our third most searched game, behind Wordle and Connections," the paper said in the statement. "Even before joining the NYT Games app, Strands has grown to be nearly as popular as Spelling Bee, our other word game. We consistently see 83% of Strands players finding the Spangram each day, and completion rate is around 81%, similar to the Mini Crossword and Tiles."

We have the answers for today's Strands puzzle, which might not be a favorite with old-school game players, as it incorporates a Gen Z slang term. Get off my lawn. We also have today's answers for Wordle and Connections.