Stuck again. Yeah, we see it. The June 4 edition of NYT Strands—puzzle #823—is a bit of a beast. Some of these words refuse to unscramble themselves, leaving you staring at the grid until your eyes cross. If you’re banging your head against the keyboard, you’re not alone. Grab some help. Keep reading.
This isn’t a tutorial on the rules, I already covered that somewhere else. Same with the rest of the suite. If you need answers for Wordle, Mini Crossword, Connections, or its sports sibling, just hop over to our main hub. It’s all there.
Speaking of Connections, it just turned a year old. Wild, right? We actually did a piece ranking the five hardest puzzles so far. You should read it. Anyway. Back to the smooth stuff.
The Theme: Smooth Movies
Let’s cut to the chase. What is today’s vibe?
Smooth movies.
Too vague? Fine. Here’s a better pointer.
Such elegance.
Think graceful. Think poised. Think… well, keep thinking.
Unlocking the Hints
Remember how Strands works? You hunt for any hidden word. Four letters minimum. Once you’ve snagged three, the game coughs up one of the theme-related terms as a hint. It’s the only way to make progress on the tough ones.
I needed a little kickstart myself. These words opened the floodgates:
- POST
- TOPS
- STOP
- SPOT
- PLEA
- PLAY
- COPE
- CORE
- RACE
- POSE
- PLOT
You don’t have to find those specific ones. Just find three. Any three. That’s the trick.
The Answers
So what’s the theme actually look like? Once the hints unlocked, the answers lined up pretty cleanly.
- EASE
- GRACE
- POISE
- STYLE
- APLOMB
- COMPOSURE
Six terms total. No eight here, no fixed rule on the number. It just varies. Find them all. Every single letter on the board gets used. None left over.
The Spangram
Here is the big one. The word that runs from edge to edge.
POETRYINMOTION
It’s long. It’s winding. To spot it, start with that P on the far-left column—third letter down. Trace the path up, over, and through the mess. It’s there. Trust it.
A Few Actual Tips
Strategy matters. Stop guessing randomly. Try this instead:
- Tweak existing finds. Add an ‘S’. Make WILL into BILL if a B is nearby. Look for variants.
- Follow the thread. One theme word found usually makes the next one jump out.
- Cheat lightly. Got the letters for a theme word but can’t assemble them? Guess three more random clue words. The system highlights the theme word in order. It basically spells it out for you.
Pretty easy when you know how the machine thinks.
Did you solve it yourself. Or did you need this?
