NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, October 13 (game #589)

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NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, October 12 (game #588).

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.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Bring binoculars

NYT Strands today (game #589) - hint #2 - clue words

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

NOTION
TARE
SWIM
WASH
BRAG
CUBE

NYT Strands today (game #589) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 14 letters

NYT Strands today (game #589) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 6th column

Last side: bottom, 1st column

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

NYT Strands today (game #589) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 589 on a blue background

The answers to today's Strands, game #589, are…

FINCH
HAWK
GOOSE
DUCK
WARBLER
WREN
THRUSH
SPANGRAM: FALLMIGRATION

My rating: Hard
My score: Perfect

“Bring binoculars” seemed like a real mystery at first. Binoculars are the sort of thing people would take on boat trips to spot whales or if they were a spy, but I couldn’t think of any occasion that was worthy of a Strands collection.

Then I found FINCH and HAWK on the board, and the penny dropped that the theme was connected to birdwatching or specifically, according to the extra-long spangram, to observing the FALLMIGRATION.

Despite featuring some short bird names – apart from the tricky WARBLER – this was far from an easy game and it took me longer than usual to complete.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, October 12, game #588)

SPADES
HEARTS
WHIST
BRIDGE
PINOCHLE
EUCHRE
SPANGRAM: TRICKTAKING

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

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.

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