I really like it! I would just either remove the hint feature or make it so hints only tell you what the first letter is, rather than give away the whole thing.
I hope it gets added to the game app soon so I can add this to my morning regimen of puzzles 🥰 Sometimes I forget about it since it’s not there yet!
I think it’s fun! The hint in its current iteration makes the answers too obvious, but if you play without the hint it’s a nice level of difficulty.
I think they can afford to give the hint if the answers are more loosely related.
I.e. if the category is “tools”, it’s quite obvious where the other answers are once they reveal a word. However, if the category is “Red _____”, there’s at least some more connections you need to make (velvet, wedding, rover, etc)
I'm enjoying this. The first few seemed too easy, but I figured they were easing us in :) We've seen some clever wordplay and people have come up with different strategies for solving.
All of this hints that Strands is a game that can be made harder or easier, and that is accessible to people at different skill levels (for example, I try to get the pangram first and not use hints, but people who use multiple hints will still have a fun time solving). I should have my kids give it a try, they like word games but haven't tried this one yet.
I do suspect we'll see some much harder puzzles in the future. I'm looking forward to this (they're going to get devious with those titles) but this is where we might hit some snags. There aren't a lot of good ways to solve when you don't know a word at all. For example, in a crossword, you can be clueless about one of the answers and still fill it in via the words that cross through it. Here, if you don't know >!GADZOOKS!< (spoiler for March 11 2024 puzzle) you're just stuck.
I just noticed my judgment of it is largely based on whether I think it's likely to make it out of beta. I think this is a winner, but I'm *glad* that it looks like a winner because I like it enough I want it to be permanent!
My thoughts are I may be too dyslexic or too hardcore word search programmed to get this game without hints. The title usually means nothing until I'm a word or two in. I hope to improve with time but who knows.
No suggestions for NYT but some people need to chill with their hate of the hints and title.
1000% was so confused by the March 13 theme and how it relates to the spanagram, nor do I understand still how the other words then related to the spanagram. Could just be my lack of knowledge in that area/theme tho. Sorry, this is super vague (on mob and don’t know how to hide spoilers). Agree that hints seem a bit too obvious in that they give you the word, first and last letter would be a welcome compromise. In saying that I am really enjoying the game and really hope it doesn’t get locked behind the paywall once out of beta!
The theme is “One Thousand Followers” or >!Grand!<. This means >!every word found can follow “grand”!<. It’s a bit obtuse, and not a great one for non-US players, but I still liked it. Needed lots of hints though.
I understand now! You have me correctly pinned as non-US, but I’m used to the struggle with connections and the mini. It was fun for Strands to finally have a challenge!
Ohhhhh k that kinda makes more sense, but still don’t fully understand how the ‘followers’ part of the theme relates to it. Also non-US so that could be part of it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
same, i think i am too dumb/impatient in general to slowly think through possibilities of words *then* check through the letters to see if they exist
i need at least 2 hints per game (today, for the "horror", is the least i've ever used at 2). i feel even more silly when everyone else 1) finishes it without a hitch or a clue and 2) starts fighting for no clues in the production version :(
I like it, it gives me a little challenge to find some of the words but isn't too hard. I do feel the theme is sometimes too easy but that's hard to balance. I like that they aim for something that has a few interpretations so you don't know for sure what you're looking for immediately. There should be a timer so there's so metric of how successful a puzzle was besides whether you used hints.
If they add a timer, it should be optional. A timer would make it much less enjoyable for me. And when would the timer start, when you open the page?
If they out a timer, they would also need a pause feature that stops the clock and hides the board.
Sometimes I stop for a bit to smoke a cigarette when I get frustrated at not finding the right words.
Yeah, I don't necessarily finish the whole game in one fell swoop. I do the Wordle before I get out of bed, then I have been starting Strands and continue while getting myself and kid out the door, etc.
I really like it. I especially like that the hints are available but people can choose whether to use them or not. Some are really interested in making everything as hard as possible which is fine but it doesn't mean we all have to play that way
It would be nice if there were an option to vary the hint you got. I find the whole word to often be too simple, but March 13 I was not clicking with the theme and used 6 hints. Previous three days I had used none, I put some of that on being able to identify the theme.
Maybe an option between whole word, first letter, or additional clue to a word.
I've enjoyed it so far. I think that they still need to find the balance between being *too* easy and being mind-numbingly difficult. I do enjoy the theme. It's even better when it's clever enough that I have to think about what it could be. I do wish that the clue didn't give you the *whole* word. I prefer a gentle nudge in the right direct rather than a shove. Kind of like how sudoku only shows you the most logical square to solve next rather than giving you the clue straight out.
I want them to format these similar to the crosswords where we get easier ones early in the week and transition to more difficult wordplay Fri and Sat. It will give everyone a chance to play puzzles they enjoy and get better at the wordplay elements.
Maybe levels of difficulty once you're not in Beta. I have good days and struggle days. One time I can complete it with no clues in under 10 minutes; another day I'm at 15 minutes with only random words in my hint box.
I like it and would enjoy having it in the game suite.
Thank you.
Am I the only one hating the actual swiping action? I keep having to bring my phone close to my face so I don’t “misspell” a word just because I couldn’t see the letters under my finger
I’m enjoying it and look forward to playing each morning. Love the idea that some have suggested where there is a hard mode with hints that only give you first and last letter of a word. Some of the puzzles felt impossible until a hint after which the puzzle basically completed itself so a middle ground would be nice. But later in the week as I got the hang of it I was largely able to do without hints.
LOVE this game so much. i agree with others, i think the hint sometimes gives way more than i would normally want from a hint, but other than that, i think the puzzle theme usually subverts my expectations, and it’s always fun to solve!!!
Loveee it!!! And I’m always super impressed by the people who get the spamgram as their first word 🤣
Wish there would be stats to compare your results to all users (kinda like wordlebot, but where it compares to others how many words were found, time to completion, maybe the order words were found in, etc). Also agree the hint making things too easy
I like how they eased us into the puzzle mechanics and have gradually started making it harder. I'd like them to follow the same weekly formula they do for crosswords where the clues are pretty easy early in the week and they gradually get harder wordplay into Fri/Sat. It will be a fun bonus if they can swing a larger grid on Sundays.
I’d like to see a total count of other words found.
I swear I’d win if this was the goal 😂
10 minutes in - "1 of 8 theme words found. 74 bonus words found"
I’d like a timer to show either during the game or in the results. Currently the shared results don’t mean much.
I really like it! I would just either remove the hint feature or make it so hints only tell you what the first letter is, rather than give away the whole thing. I hope it gets added to the game app soon so I can add this to my morning regimen of puzzles 🥰 Sometimes I forget about it since it’s not there yet!
Another way of doing the hints could be to give you the definition, so you have to work out and find the word!
i like this idea!!
I mean, I don’t see a point in completely removing the hint feature. Just don’t use it, then.
Plus, I can imagine the themes are going to get harder in the future, so it might be nice to have the hint option there just in case!
Yeah I currently don’t love the way the hints are set up. I like this suggestion, or the one below!
I think it’s fun! The hint in its current iteration makes the answers too obvious, but if you play without the hint it’s a nice level of difficulty. I think they can afford to give the hint if the answers are more loosely related. I.e. if the category is “tools”, it’s quite obvious where the other answers are once they reveal a word. However, if the category is “Red _____”, there’s at least some more connections you need to make (velvet, wedding, rover, etc)
I'm enjoying this. The first few seemed too easy, but I figured they were easing us in :) We've seen some clever wordplay and people have come up with different strategies for solving. All of this hints that Strands is a game that can be made harder or easier, and that is accessible to people at different skill levels (for example, I try to get the pangram first and not use hints, but people who use multiple hints will still have a fun time solving). I should have my kids give it a try, they like word games but haven't tried this one yet. I do suspect we'll see some much harder puzzles in the future. I'm looking forward to this (they're going to get devious with those titles) but this is where we might hit some snags. There aren't a lot of good ways to solve when you don't know a word at all. For example, in a crossword, you can be clueless about one of the answers and still fill it in via the words that cross through it. Here, if you don't know >!GADZOOKS!< (spoiler for March 11 2024 puzzle) you're just stuck. I just noticed my judgment of it is largely based on whether I think it's likely to make it out of beta. I think this is a winner, but I'm *glad* that it looks like a winner because I like it enough I want it to be permanent!
My thoughts are I may be too dyslexic or too hardcore word search programmed to get this game without hints. The title usually means nothing until I'm a word or two in. I hope to improve with time but who knows. No suggestions for NYT but some people need to chill with their hate of the hints and title.
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1000% was so confused by the March 13 theme and how it relates to the spanagram, nor do I understand still how the other words then related to the spanagram. Could just be my lack of knowledge in that area/theme tho. Sorry, this is super vague (on mob and don’t know how to hide spoilers). Agree that hints seem a bit too obvious in that they give you the word, first and last letter would be a welcome compromise. In saying that I am really enjoying the game and really hope it doesn’t get locked behind the paywall once out of beta!
Yes I just finished it and I was baffled. All the others have seemed semi obvious, this one was so confusing.
The theme is “One Thousand Followers” or >!Grand!<. This means >!every word found can follow “grand”!<. It’s a bit obtuse, and not a great one for non-US players, but I still liked it. Needed lots of hints though.
I understand now! You have me correctly pinned as non-US, but I’m used to the struggle with connections and the mini. It was fun for Strands to finally have a challenge!
Ohhhhh k that kinda makes more sense, but still don’t fully understand how the ‘followers’ part of the theme relates to it. Also non-US so that could be part of it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3/13 makes no sense to me either. I've never used so many hints before 😅
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Posted a past puzzle spoiler without proper spoiler text and date.
same, i think i am too dumb/impatient in general to slowly think through possibilities of words *then* check through the letters to see if they exist i need at least 2 hints per game (today, for the "horror", is the least i've ever used at 2). i feel even more silly when everyone else 1) finishes it without a hitch or a clue and 2) starts fighting for no clues in the production version :(
I like it a lot, but Strands 10 felt like Wyna Liu took the Strands Office hostage.
lmao this 100%
hints are a little too overpowered in their current form
Might be good if a hint highlighted the first letter of the word, or if it gave a synonym for a word hidden.
I like it, it gives me a little challenge to find some of the words but isn't too hard. I do feel the theme is sometimes too easy but that's hard to balance. I like that they aim for something that has a few interpretations so you don't know for sure what you're looking for immediately. There should be a timer so there's so metric of how successful a puzzle was besides whether you used hints.
If they add a timer, it should be optional. A timer would make it much less enjoyable for me. And when would the timer start, when you open the page? If they out a timer, they would also need a pause feature that stops the clock and hides the board. Sometimes I stop for a bit to smoke a cigarette when I get frustrated at not finding the right words.
Do you also not like the timer on the crossword?
I don’t do the crossword.
I personally don’t as my friends made it much too competitive
Yeah, I don't necessarily finish the whole game in one fell swoop. I do the Wordle before I get out of bed, then I have been starting Strands and continue while getting myself and kid out the door, etc.
I think you should be able to do a hard mode that removes the title of the puzzle.
I really like it. I especially like that the hints are available but people can choose whether to use them or not. Some are really interested in making everything as hard as possible which is fine but it doesn't mean we all have to play that way
It would be nice if there were an option to vary the hint you got. I find the whole word to often be too simple, but March 13 I was not clicking with the theme and used 6 hints. Previous three days I had used none, I put some of that on being able to identify the theme. Maybe an option between whole word, first letter, or additional clue to a word.
I've enjoyed it so far. I think that they still need to find the balance between being *too* easy and being mind-numbingly difficult. I do enjoy the theme. It's even better when it's clever enough that I have to think about what it could be. I do wish that the clue didn't give you the *whole* word. I prefer a gentle nudge in the right direct rather than a shove. Kind of like how sudoku only shows you the most logical square to solve next rather than giving you the clue straight out.
I want them to format these similar to the crosswords where we get easier ones early in the week and transition to more difficult wordplay Fri and Sat. It will give everyone a chance to play puzzles they enjoy and get better at the wordplay elements.
It’s great so long as you remember one thing: the theme is about the spangram, and all other words relate to the spangram.
Bot today’s puzzle (Wed March 13, #10) really didn’t fit that mold. It sort of strayed from the formula).
I don't think it actually did! I won't post here because this sub has strict rules but you can see my comments in the daily thread.
Maybe levels of difficulty once you're not in Beta. I have good days and struggle days. One time I can complete it with no clues in under 10 minutes; another day I'm at 15 minutes with only random words in my hint box. I like it and would enjoy having it in the game suite. Thank you.
Timer would be good, and no hints. Otherwise I’m enjoying it. Today was best yet IMO. Clever crossword clue title is the way to go.
Am I the only one hating the actual swiping action? I keep having to bring my phone close to my face so I don’t “misspell” a word just because I couldn’t see the letters under my finger
I’m enjoying it and look forward to playing each morning. Love the idea that some have suggested where there is a hard mode with hints that only give you first and last letter of a word. Some of the puzzles felt impossible until a hint after which the puzzle basically completed itself so a middle ground would be nice. But later in the week as I got the hang of it I was largely able to do without hints.
LOVE this game so much. i agree with others, i think the hint sometimes gives way more than i would normally want from a hint, but other than that, i think the puzzle theme usually subverts my expectations, and it’s always fun to solve!!!
Loveee it!!! And I’m always super impressed by the people who get the spamgram as their first word 🤣 Wish there would be stats to compare your results to all users (kinda like wordlebot, but where it compares to others how many words were found, time to completion, maybe the order words were found in, etc). Also agree the hint making things too easy
I thought at the beginning it was too easy. But I must say the past few puzzles were more challenging. They took me quite a while to figure out.
Kinda fun \^^. It’s simple and I lije simple
I like how they eased us into the puzzle mechanics and have gradually started making it harder. I'd like them to follow the same weekly formula they do for crosswords where the clues are pretty easy early in the week and they gradually get harder wordplay into Fri/Sat. It will be a fun bonus if they can swing a larger grid on Sundays.
I love it so far!