If you’re looking for hints and answers for the Strands puzzle with the theme “Mary, Mary, quite,” we’ve got you covered. The clue provided by the game is a phrase that gives a hint at the board’s theme, such as “Better with age.” Your goal is to find the hidden words within the board that reflect the puzzle’s theme.
The spangram is a crucial word that more explicitly states the puzzle’s theme. For this puzzle, the spangram is GARDEN, which describes where people grow their flowers and vegetables. The theme words are words from the classic nursery rhyme “Mary, Mary, quite contrary.” The answers to this puzzle are CONTRARY, SILVER, BELLS, COCKLESHELLS, PRETTY, and MAIDS.
To play Strands, start by finding the spangram on the game board. This word will span the entire board, either from left to right or top to bottom. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted in yellow. Solving the spangram usually makes the rest of the puzzle much easier to complete.
Words can travel any direction (up, down, left, right, and diagonal), and you will only use each letter once. There is only one correct solution. If you’re struggling to solve the puzzle, you can submit non-theme words (four letters or more) to receive credit toward a single hint. The “Hint” button will be clickable if you submit three non-theme words.
Strands is different from other NYT games in that it has no time limit and no failure option. When you submit guesses, you’ll either correctly identify an answer, receive credit toward a hint, or the text will shake back and forth, indicating that your word was too short or not valid. You can’t run out of guesses.
When you finally solve the puzzle, you’ll see a shareable card that indicates how you performed: blue dots indicate theme words you found, the yellow dot indicates when you found the spangram, and a lightbulb symbolizes words that received a hint.
Source: https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/strands-nyt-hint-today-mary-mary-quite-june-5-2025