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.

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 #724) – hint #1 – today’s theme

NYT Strands today (game #724) – hint #2 – clue words

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

• TIRE
• TRADE
• VERSO
• BORE
• SLANDER
• LIBEL

NYT Strands today (game #724) – hint #3 – spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #724) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #724) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #724, are…

• PROBE
• ROVER
• SATELLITE
• LANDER
• MODULE
• ORBITER
• SPANGRAM: SPACECRAFT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

My first thought when I saw the theme was The X Files and its tagline “the truth is out there”. I was wrong of course, but SPACECRAFT wasn’t too far off the mark.

Either way, the mystery was short. Like many Strands players I begin in the corners and this gave me easy finds of both PROBE and ROVER, prompting a search for other pieces of space hardware NASA may be sending on its mission to the Moon.

Meanwhile, the word SATELLITE prompted me to recall one of my favorite songs — A New England by Billy Bragg (although I prefer Kirsty MacColl’s version) and the lines “I saw two shooting stars last night / I wished on them but they were only satellites / It’s wrong to wish on space hardware /  I wish, I wish, wish you’d care”. That song was written in the early 1980s when there were significantly fewer satellites than there are today. Now, look up into the night sky and you’ll see dozens of them keeping a track on our movements.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, February 24, game #723)

• ENCYCLOPEDIA
• DIRECTORY
• THESAURUS
• DICTIONARY
• SPANGRAM: LOOKITUP

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna’s addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.