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Today’s NYT Strands theme is “Tolkien’s world.” The spangram is MIDDLEEARTH; the seven theme words are RING, FOREST, WIZARD, SHIRE, HOBBIT, DWARF, and QUEST. Hints come first below, followed by the complete answer list.
What is today’s Strands hint?
The theme clue is “One ring to rule them all.” The theme is “Tolkien’s world,” pointing to the setting associated with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Tolkien Estate identifies both works as set in Middle-earth.
What is today’s Strands spangram?
The spangram is MIDDLEEARTH. Parade’s guide lists the opening pairs RI, FO, WI, SH, HO, DW, QU, and MI as starting points for the theme words and spangram. In Strands, the spangram describes the theme and touches two opposite sides of the board; finding three non-theme words earns an in-game hint that reveals letters of a theme answer. Parade’s dated guide explains these mechanics.
What are today’s NYT Strands answers?
The puzzle is game #643. Its seven theme answers are:
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- RING
- FOREST
- WIZARD
- SHIRE
- HOBBIT
- DWARF
- QUEST
The spangram, MIDDLEEARTH, completes the set. The dated guides from Parade and TechRadar agree on the answers, as does the Strands Solution archive. The list mixes Tolkien-specific terms such as HOBBIT and SHIRE with broader fantasy words such as FOREST, WIZARD, DWARF, and QUEST.
How the theme connects to Tolkien
Middle-earth is the setting of Tolkien’s two best-known works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, according to the Tolkien Estate. Its publication history helps explain why the puzzle’s theme evokes a much larger fictional world: The Fellowship of the Ring appeared in 1954, The Two Towers later that year, and The Return of the King in 1955, as the Estate records in its account of the foreword to the second edition.
For readers who want to explore the setting beyond the word grid, The Lord of the Rings is Tolkien’s original story of the Ring and its quest. The Tolkien Estate’s foreword page reproduces Tolkien’s description of how the tale expanded: “This tale grew in the telling, until it became a history of the Great War of the Ring and included many glimpses of the yet more ancient history that preceded it.”
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