NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, October 8 (game #949)

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 Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answe

<![CDATA[ <article> <div class="fancy-box"><div class="fancy_box-title">Looking for a different day?</div><div class="fancy_box_body"><p class="fancy-box__body-text">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'. <strong>If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead</strong> then click here: <a data-analytics-id="inline-link" href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands-today-answers-hints-7-october-2026"><strong>NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, October 7 (game #948)</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p></div></div><p>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.</p><p>Want more word-based fun? Then check out my <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/nyt-connections-today-answers-hints-8-october-2026">NYT Connections today</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/quordle-today-answers-clues-8-october-2026">Quordle today</a> pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/wordle-today">Wordle today</a> page for the original viral word game.</p><p><em>SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.</em></p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-949-hint-1-today-s-theme"><span>NYT Strands today (game #949) - hint #1 - today's theme</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Today's NYT Strands theme is… A star is born</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-949-hint-2-clue-words"><span>NYT Strands today (game #949) - hint #2 - clue words</span></h2><p>Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.</p><ul><li>MACE</li><li>CREATE</li><li>MINCE</li><li>BRAIL</li><li>CLUE</li><li>WINNER</li><li>TUNA</li></ul><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-949-hint-3-spangram-letters"><span>NYT Strands today (game #949) - hint #3 - spangram letters</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>How many letters are in today's spangram?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Spangram has 8 letters</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-949-hint-4-spangram-position"><span>NYT Strands today (game #949) - hint #4 - spangram position</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>• <strong>First side: </strong>left, 5th row</p><p>• <strong>Last side: </strong>right, 5th row</p></article></section><p>Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.</p><div data-model-name="Dyson HushJet Mini Cool Fan,JBL Xtreme 5,LG OLED evo AI C6 55-inch TV (2026),DJI Lito X1,Dali Kupid,De'Longhi Dedica Duo" data-widget-type="multimodelreview" data-widget-title="TechRadar 5-star reviewed devices"></div><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-949-the-answers"><span>NYT Strands today (game #949) - the answers</span></h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1920px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="QCQ2Udzig5nv4CZid2TFUF" name="TR_nyt_strands-answers-949" alt="NYT Strands answers for game 949 on a blue background" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QCQ2Udzig5nv4CZid2TFUF-1920-80.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: New York Times)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The answers to today's Strands, game #949, are…</p><ul><li>FAME</li><li>CELEBRITY</li><li>REPUTE</li><li>ACCLAIM</li><li>RENOWN</li><li>EMINENCE</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: LUMINARY</strong></li></ul><ul><li><strong>My rating: </strong> Easy</li><li><strong>My score: </strong> Perfect</li></ul><p>After the Lady Gaga movie, the first thing today’s theme made me think of was FAME, so I immediately went searching for it in the game and found it lurking on the right-hand edge.</p><p>CELEBRITY was the next most obvious word, but from here the synonyms were less obvious — although, thankfully, easy to spot, along with a spangram that was unfashionably short at just eight letters..</p><p>Later in my search I found the word ”winner” and was shocked that it wasn’t featured in the game, because, let's face it, the talented folk who can be described as achieving ACCLAIM, RENOWN and EMINENCE are winning at life.</p><iframe title="How did you do today?" description="Let me know in the comments below" minimumCommentCount="0" class="position-center" data-lazy-priority="low" data-lazy-src=""></iframe><h3 class="article-body__section" id="section-yesterday-s-nyt-strands-answers-wednesday-october-7-game-948"><span>Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, October 7, game #948)</span></h3><ul><li>BUBBLEGUM</li><li>BARBIE</li><li>SHOCKING</li><li>QUARTZ</li><li>FLAMINGO</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: TICKLEDPINK</strong></li></ul><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>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 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands" target="_blank">NYT Games site</a> on desktop or mobile.</p><p>I've got a full guide to h<a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands">ow to play NYT Strands,</a> complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.</p></article></section> </article> ]]>