NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, April 19 (game #412)

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

Apr 18, 2025 - 15:47

NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, April 19 (game #412)

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 Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, April 18 (game #411).

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… ___ a ___

NYT Strands today (game #412) - hint #2 - clue words

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

NICE
BRAT
MEAN
BEAN
TRUE
BREAK

NYT Strands today (game #412) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #412) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First side: top, 2nd column

Last side: bottom, 5th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #412) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 412 on a blue background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #412, are…

HINT
CHANCE
HIKE
GANDER
NUMBER
SELFIE
BREATHER
SPANGRAM: TAKE THAT

My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect

A great theme today and one that was originally a mystery until it revealed itself with HINT. A nice in-joke from team Strands.

I used to work for a British tabloid magazine called Take a Break, whose pages were divided between puzzles and real life stories — plastic surgery that had gone wrong, love rats cheating people out of their life savings.

It was a great magazine to work on, in part because it was so loved by its readers. So, obviously, I was hoping it would make an appearance in today’s “take a ____” search?

Interestingly it is in the grid, but it didn’t make the cut to become an actual answer.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, 18 April, game #411)

TILE
DOMINO
TOKEN
CHECKER
KNIGHT
BATTLESHIP
SPANGRAM: GAME PIECES

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.