I’ve been solving the Strands puzzles for the last couple of days to get a hang of what it brings to the table. Today’s NYT Strands was a sigh of relief as compared to last day’s traumatizing puzzler. I had a whole lot of fun solving today’s game. And guess what? Your man got to the Spangram without any hints! So, let me take you through it all as I gradually discuss March 14’s NYT Strands answers.
What is the Theme for Today’s NYT Strands?
As revealed by the New York Times, the theme for today’s Strands is “Get animated”.
This is less vague as compared to last day’s “One thousand followers” theme, and it instantly got me thinking about potential Spangrams. Was it a Pixar movie theme day? Anime theme? I was indeed very close as you will see below. Oh, by the way, if you are new to this game, check out our guide on how to play NYT Strands.
Spangram Hint for Today’s Strands
Spoiler Warning #1 Even though we have tried our best to be subtle, the hints below might partially spoil the experience. Proceed with caution.
When it comes to NYT Strands, there are two categories of words in the game. The Spangrams are the ones that you should be targeting first since the other regular theme words fall under it directly. Every Strands game has one Spangram that you need to decipher. Think of it as the main theme of sorts.
Uncovering the Spangram as early on as possible makes completing the game easier. The hint for today’s Spangram that I wish to share with you is “Nostalgic cartoons.”
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 of these theme words that may help you:
- Hint #1: “What’s up, doc?”
- Hint #2: Acme Corporation
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 14
The Spangram for today’s NYT Strands is LOONEYTUNES.
Alongside the Spangram, this time, you get 6 theme words as opposed to the usual 8 (including the Spangram) I’ve spotted in the last couple of days. That brings us to the next section. However, proceed only if you are ready to take a look at the theme words.
List of Theme Words for NYT Strands on March 14
If you are still reading this, you are probably ready to see the answers. So, let’s take a look at today’s theme words in Strands:
- COYOTE
- ROADRUNNER
- BUGS
- DAFFY
- PORKY
- FOGHORN
As soon as I took a look at the theme and the puzzle today, I instantly made out COYOTE at the bottom right corner. Well, all thanks to binging Roadrunner as a kid. And, as expected, voila! It turned out to be a theme word.
After that, I found ROAD in the bottom left grid. Yes, it was an unrelated theme word and I got a step closer to unlocking the first hint. Then, I facepalmed for not having detected ROADRUNNER up top, which was sitting right there. And, with that, 2 out of 8 theme words were down.
Then, the fifth grid from the top gave me the unrelated SENNET word. With that, I unlocked my first hint and made out BUGS from it.
Right above the B from BUGS, I saw an L and as I started connecting words from it, I knew I had another theme word. But, hold up! While I connected and made LOONEY to create a hint, I noticed that the word further extends into forming LOONEY TUNES. An early Spangram it is. Jackpot! This time, we get a side-to-side Spangram unlike the last two, which were top-to-bottom.
I was a bit lost after the Spangram, though. But, made PROF from the bottom left edge hoping that it’s another animated character I don’t know about. It turned out to be another unrelated word but filled my Hint meter. Didn’t use it and found YODA intermingled with COYOTE instead. Turns out, Strands doesn’t consider it to be a word.
After trying to find another theme word, I gave up and used the hint to get DAFFY. Facepalmed the hardest at this. Two more theme words to go!
After a bit of searching, PORKY became evident from the five letters at the bottom left edge. With that, I was left with solving just the last seven letters at the top-left corner. Was confused a bit here, and after a couple of random combinations, FOGHORN came out to be the final word. Thus, I got all the popular animated characters from LOONEY TUNES in today’s Strands puzzle.
Unlike last day’s Strands which came with the “One thousand followers” theme, today’s game was a walk in the park. Ending a Strands game with two hints is unlike me. So, you know it’s easy.
What about you? How many hints did you use to solve today’s game? Let me know in the comments down below!
