Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Editor’s note, July 7: Today’s NYT Strands puzzle was initially summer-camp themed. But due to the tragic Texas floods involving a summer camp there, Camp Mystic, the New York Times editors changed out the puzzle on Monday.
“We want to acknowledge that today’s Strands puzzle was released with deeply unfortunate timing, for which we are truly sorry,” the newspaper wrote. “In light of the tragic events ongoing in Texas, we recognize that the theme and board may have felt insensitive and poorly timed. This was entirely unintentional — Strands themes and boards are created and scheduled weeks in advance. We have now replaced the original puzzle with a new one.
“As soon as we realized there was a problem, we began working on a solution. If you refresh your browser window or reopen the game in your app, you will be served a new puzzle.”
We’ve replaced the summer camp-themed puzzle answers that were originally posted with the new puzzle the Times later uploaded.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Prescriptions plus.
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Stocking up on essentials.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- GAME, BEAT, SALE, GAIN, GAINS, DIME, SIDE, ISLE, THAT, DINE, CHAT, HARM, CITY
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- BEAUTY, HEALTH, GROCERY, MEDICINE, VITAMINS
Today’s Strands spangram
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for July 7, 2025, No. 491, updated.
Today’s Strands spangram is PHARMACYAISLE. To find it, start with the P that’s the first letter to the left on the top row, and wind down.
Quick tips for Strands
#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.
#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.
#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.
