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This is the archived NYT Strands puzzle for Thursday, December 5, 2024—game #277, not today’s current puzzle. Its theme is “Gonna fly now!” Start with the hints below, then open the spoiler section for the full answer set.
Theme and clue words
The theme for Strands #277 is “Gonna fly now!” If you want to uncover the board’s in-game hints before viewing solutions, the clue words are WIFE, GRAY, ROOTS, DRAY, TASK and TUBE.
Spangram hint
The spangram clue is “Flappy bird/non-birds.” Its published route begins at the left edge in row four and ends at the right edge in row one. Those edge positions can help orient your search without revealing the phrase.
How Strands works
Try Hard Guides describes Strands as a themed word-search game: letters can connect in any direction, but cannot be reused or crossed. Theme answers highlight light blue, while the spangram—a phrase describing the theme that touches opposite sides of the board—highlights yellow. The guide also says that finding three non-theme words of at least four letters earns an in-game hint that reveals a theme word. These mechanics are described by that secondary source.
Spoiler warning: answers for game #277
The complete solution set is below. Stop here if you want to solve the puzzle yourself.
Spangram
WINGED THING
Theme words
- ANGEL
- GRIFFIN
- DRAGON
- STORK
- BUTTERFLY
- FAIRY
TechRadar prints the spangram as two words, “WINGED THING”; Try Hard Guides prints it without a space. Both answer pages list the same six theme words.
Rank #2
Where to play
TechRadar reported that Strands was playable on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile. The puzzle and answer guide above refer specifically to the December 5, 2024 edition.
Quick Recap
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