science

The New York Times Strands

The New York Times Strands is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The New York Times Strands rather than just read about it. In short: Strands is an online word game created by The New York Times. Released into beta in March 2024, Strands is a part of the New York Times Games library.

Key takeaways

The New York Times Strands belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The New York Times Strands to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The New York Times Strands from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Strands is an online word game created by The New York Times. Released into beta in March 2024, Strands is a part of the New York Times Games library. Strands takes the form of a word search, with new puzzles released once every day. The original pitch for the game was created by Juliette Seive, and puzzles are edited by Tracy Bennett.

Gameplay Strands is a word search of letters arranged in a six-by-eight grid. Unlike typical word searches, words in Strands can bend in any direction. A new puzzle is released for Strands every day, similar to other games offered by The New York Times. Each puzzle is themed; players are given a clue to the theme of the puzzle, and the total number of words (which must have at least four letters) to be found. If the player finds three words unrelated to the puzzle, they have the option to receive a hint, which highlights the letters in one of the theme words. Each puzzle also contains a "spangram," a word or short phrase that describes the theme itself and spans two opposite edges of the grid (it can begin and/or end elsewhere, though). The spangram is highlighted in yellow when found, while theme words turn blue. Words other than the spangram may also touch two opposing edges. Words do not overlap, and every letter is used in exactly one word.

Development The New York Times Games research director Juliette Seive developed the pitch for what would later become Strands. She proposed the idea at The New York Times's annual game jam, and prototype of Strands was approved by a concept committee several weeks later. Vanity Fair reported in December 2023 that The New York Times was developing a word search game to add to their online library of games. Strands puzzles are edited by Tracy Bennett, who also edits Wordle for The New York Times. Strands released into beta on March 4, 2024, playable on web browsers through the New York Times Games website.

Reception Ian Bogost, writing for The Atlantic, lauded Strand's innovations to the word search genre. "Many of the best games succeed by offering a novel take on something familiar. Strands does exactly that," he described, adding that Strands "draws on a familiar format that everyone knows, and varies that format in a manner that is reminiscent of other games without being reliant on their mastery." Bogost also praised Strands for making "the player feel smarter than they really are," which he described as "the purpose of newspaper games." The Gamer's Eric Switzer praised Strands overall, but lamented the difficulty of some of its puzzles, saying he hopes that "if Strands sticks around, future puzzles aren’t this rage-inducing."

References

External links Strands at nytimes.com

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The New York Times Strands

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The New York Times Strands claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The New York Times Strands before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The New York Times Strands ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The New York Times Strands

In research: The New York Times Strands appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The New York Times Strands in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The New York Times Strands is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2024 video games, Single-player video games, The New York Times Games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The New York Times Strands outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The New York Times Strands in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The New York Times Strands means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The New York Times Strands out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The New York Times Strands in simple terms?

Strands is an online word game created by The New York Times. Released into beta in March 2024, Strands is a part of the New York Times Games library.

Why does The New York Times Strands matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The New York Times Strands?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The New York Times Strands.