Techradar - All the latest technology news

NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, April 28 (game #421)

Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, including the spangram.

Apr 27, 2025 - 15:05

NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, April 28 (game #421)

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 Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, April 27 (game #420).

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 #421) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… My bad!

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #2 - clue words

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

BLADE
NUMB
DIAL
POWER
STEAL
HOOPS

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 13 letters

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First side: right, 4th row

Last side: left, 8th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #421) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 421 on a blue background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #421, are…

SPILL
TOPPLE
SLIP
FALTER
BLUNDER
STUMBLE
SPANGRAM: WHOOPSIE DAISY

My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect

I am such a clumsy person that if I enter a store filled with breakable objects I will immediately reverse back out. Once, fearful of my propensity towards calamity, I removed my backpack in a souvenir store and in the process it grazed against a display of lucky china cats, which cascaded to the floor, breaking about six of them.

I did not BLUNDER through today’s search, though. In fact, it was one of the easiest for a while and one of those rare editions of Strands where finding the hint words for this page was tougher than finding the answers.

The Spangram was quite a throwback, the sort of thing an elderly aunt might say. It wasn’t what came out of my mouth when I knocked over those cats and cursed myself for life.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, April 27, game #420)

MASK
EARPLUGS
MELATONIN
MEDITATION
MOUTHGUARD
SPANGRAM: BEDTIME

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.