NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, May 9 (game #67)

Welcome to today's edition of the NYT's Strands game, in which your task is to uncover words hidden within a grid of letter. The twist is that they all follow a theme, and one – called the 'spangram' – describes that theme. It can be pretty tricky, but I've included some hints for you below to set you on your way.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Tap to play

NYT Strands today (game #67) - hint #2 - clue words

What are some good clue words today?

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

• BAND

• SCALE

• MEDAL

• BOLD

• LION

• FALL

• FLEET

NYT Strands today (game #67) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Simply putt

NYT Strands today (game #67) - hint #4 - spangram position

What two sides of the board does today's spangram touch?

• First: left, 3rd row

• Second: right, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #67) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #67, are…

• TUNNEL
• WATERFALL
• BOULDER
• RAMP
• CASTLE
• WINDMILL
• SPANGRAM: MINIGOLF

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

This one was all about solving the spangram. Without it, it was really difficult; with it, much, much easier. The theme clue made sense once you knew that the answer was MINIGOLF, but was obtuse enough that it didn't entirely give the game away. I blundered around without knowing what was going on for a while, picking up TUNNEL and WATERFALL because they were easy to spot on the board, but having no idea of what the others could be.

I toyed with it being something to do with rivers, or landscapes, but couldn't make the clue work properly with them, and it was only when I added BOULDER, also by accident, that MINIGOLF became apparent. After that the others were easy pickings.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 8 May, game #66)

• BINARY
• WHOLE
• LUCKY
• BACON
• DANCE
• SERIAL
• TELEPHONE
• SPANGRAM: NUMBERS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's currently in Beta and 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.