NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, July 12 (game #861)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, July 11 (game #860).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… In the Big Apple

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

GABLE

WAXY

GRIP

TILED

DATA

HUGGER

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 11 letters

NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: bottom, 3rd column

• Last side: top, 3rd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #861) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #861, are…

STOOP

BOROUGH

BODEGA

SUBWAY

TAXI

BAGEL

DELI

SPANGRAM: EMPIRESTATE

My rating: Easy

My score: Perfect

It took me a while to see BAGEL and DELI, possibly because I don’t associate them uniquely with New York, but this slight delay aside today’s game was a breeze.

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

I even managed to spot the spangram before any game words — EMPIRESTATE towering from the top to the bottom of the board, much like the magnificent building — earning myself the Spangram First 100 times badge.

As Alicia Keys sang, “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” — although this possibly doesn’t apply if your dream is acing word searches.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, July 11, game #860)

CHEESE

SOUP

MILK

TUNA

PEPPER

SALT

NOODLES

SPANGRAM: CASSEROLE

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.