Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Tuesday, September 30

Add as a preferred source on Google

Strands is yet another daily puzzle from the New York Times that you can add to your routine to flex your brain muscles. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.

Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.

How to play Strands

You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the “theme words” hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable.

If you find a word that isn’t a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint — the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and you’ll just have to unscramble it.

Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once.

Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special theme word (or words) that describes the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow.

The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s theme is “For goodness’ sake.”

Here’s a hint that might help you: positive traits

Today’s Strand answers

Today’s spanagram

We’ll start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own:

  • VALUES

Today’s Strands answers

  • DISCIPLINE
  • HONESTY
  • COOPERATION
  • EMPATHY
  • RESPECT
Jesse Lennox
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jesse Lennox covers all things gaming but has a specific interest in all things PlayStation, JRPGs, and experimental indies…
Forget console wars. Steam Machine may help kill lazy PC gaming ports
Valve’s expensive mini PC could become PC gaming’s new baseline
Steam Machine with Steam Controller

Valve’s Steam Machine has become easy to dunk on. The price starts well above current consoles, and the hardware sits somewhere between entry-level and mid-range gaming PCs rather than a monster rig. Early reviews have also talked about how demanding games need upscaling, trimmed settings, and realistic expectations.

With the ongoing memory crisis, it sounds like a rough time to bring a PC to the couch. Though the Steam Machine doesn't need to beat high-end gaming PCs or the big consoles. Its purpose was different from the start. And what really makes it better is how it could shift the PC gaming segment entirely.

Read more
GTA 6 may not get the real physical release fans were hoping for
The game may come in a case, but not on a disc
GTA 6 cover art

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders recently went live, but the excitement came with one frustrating catch. The so-called physical edition of the game will not include a disc. Instead, buyers will get a box with cover art and a download code inside.

That decision immediately caused backlash online, especially among collectors who still care about owning games on disc. For a while, there was some hope that this would only be temporary. Reports suggested that Rockstar could release a proper disc version of GTA 6 in December 2026, giving physical media fans something to wait for.

Read more
The Steam Machine launch hasn’t even happened, but the resale circus has begun
Scalpers are already trying to cash in on Valve’s Steam Machine
Valve Steam Machine Featured Design Coverplate

Valve has started sending out reservation emails for the Steam Machine ahead of its June 30 launch, and scalpers have wasted no time turning the whole thing into a comedy act.

The Steam Machine is already an expensive device, as RAM and SSD prices have made hardware pricing miserable across the industry. Valve has previously said it would like to lower the price if component costs improve. That makes the resale listings even harder to take seriously, because the official price was already higher than many people expected before scalpers added their own fantasy tax.

Read more