NYT Strands Tips and Answers for Monday, July 20 (Game #869)

Strands is the latest pun from The New York Times after Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s a lot of fun. It can be difficult, though, so keep reading my Strands tips.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections Today and Quordle Today pages for tips and answers on these games, as well as Marc’s Wordle Today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: The information on NYT Strands today is below, so don’t continue reading if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #869) – clue #1 – theme of the day

NYT Strands today (game #869) – clue #2 – clue words

Play one of these words to unlock the game’s hint system.

• COIN
• SLOT
• METER
• JUNK
• SUIT
• MUSTY

NYT Strands today (game #869) – clue #3 – spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #869) – clue #4 – spangram position

That’s right, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #869) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #869, are…

• TINY
• LITTLE
• MICROSCOPIC
• MINIATURE
• TINY
• SPANGRAM: ITSYBITSY

• My rating: Easy
• My rating: Perfect

Yesterday’s theme was “big talks” and today it’s “small talks.” I can’t wait to talk to psychic tomorrow.

Anyway, I digress. After the relatively easy passages of TINY and LITTLE, we moved on to the more specialized descriptions of very small things, with MICROSCOPIC bringing me a small thrill of pleasure in connecting an 11-letter word.

After yesterday’s weird “supersizeit” spangram, I was expecting a similar descriptive snake today, so ITSYBITSY took me a while, even though it matched the search perfectly. Either way, it’s a spangram that demonstrates that small things are more fun than big things.

Answers from yesterday’s NYT Strands (Sunday July 19, match #868)

• GIANT
• MAMMOTH
• COLOSSUS
• MONSTER
• LEVIATHAN
• SPANGRAM: SUPERSIZEIT

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye. Previously known as Pop Detective, his journalistic career began by making up stories about Madonna’s addiction to sausage rolls (not true, by the way). A man of little talent, his career is rich and varied and includes interviews with Elton John and Blur; and the downside of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing in a Channel 5 documentary on Peter Kay and fact-checking a German cook’s instruction manual. Somehow, still having the means to live in north London, he is happiest riding his bike and shouting at pigeons.