After the broken round of yesterday’s Strands, it was a relief to see a puzzle that was not all over the place. Today’s NYT Strands presented us with a pretty good twist, which was quite challenging to read at first. Yes, I’m saying “us” because it was a group solve yet again. That said, we present the hints and answers for the March 28 NYT Strands. Read on if you are ready!
What is the Theme for Today’s NYT Strands?
As revealed by the New York Times, the theme for today’s Strands is “Off the shelf”.
Yet again, NYT Strands presented us with a riddle woven into the pun-injected theme. I was happy to see the Strands grids properly aligned and everything in place today. Phew, that was a relief.
Spangram Hint for Today’s Strands
Spoiler Warning #1 Even though we try our best to be subtle, the hints below might partially spoil the experience. You’ve been warned.
Every Strands game has that one Spangram that you need to decipher. Today’s Spangram was no exception and the hint is – “Categories in a library”.
Theme Words Hints for Today’s Strands
Now, if you have figured out the Spangram from the above hint, figuring out the theme words will understandably be fairly easy. However, I don’t want to ruin it for you. Instead, here are hints to 2 out of 6 theme words that may help you:
- Hint #1: Makes you laugh
- Hint #2: Story of lovers
Spoiler Warning #2 The next sections reveal the answers for today’s NYT Strands. So, I’d recommend not scrolling further if you are still solving the puzzle. However, if you are stuck, I suggest scrolling a wee bit to see the Spangram answer.
Spangram Answer for NYT Strands on March 28
The Spangram for today’s NYT Strands is GENRES, as in book genres. It runs right to left on the letters grid.
Apart from the Spangram, you need to find 6 theme words in today’s puzzle. The highest number of theme words, that is 8, in Strands was spotted on March 16.
Meanwhile, if you are new to the game, check out my guide on how to play NYT Strands. I have also added a couple of tips and tricks to help you learn the ropes.
Anyway, with that being said, let’s go to the next section. However, proceed only if you are ready to check out the theme words.
List of Theme Words for NYT Strands on March 28
If you have scrolled this far, you are probably ready to see the answers. So, let’s take a look at today’s theme words in Strands:
- HUMOR
- FANTASY
- BIOGRAPHY
- MYSTERY
- FICTION
- ROMANCE
So, like I said, today’s Strands solve was a group effort. I was joined by my two wonderful colleague-turned-friends, Akshay (our Content Strategist) and Upanishad (our Gaming Sub-editor). While Akshay and I spent 10 minutes making random words on the board in hopes to find a theme word, Upanishad was busy with his daily Connections solve. Then, Upanishad cracked the theme for the day, saying what if it was all about books and their different genres? It made sense.
After that, the three of us found HUMOR, FANTASY and BIOGRAPHY in mere seconds at the top. Next, we unveiled GENRES as the Spangram, sneakily resting right under these theme words. With that, we just had to solve the bottom portion of the Spangram. That was easy too as we quickly uncovered MYSTERY, FICTION and ROMANCE from the remaining letters. With that, today’s Spangram was solved!
Again, no hints were used for today’s Strands, and I’m thrilled about that!
So, that was my journey with Strands today. What about you? How many hints did you require for today’s game? Let me know in the comments down below!
