NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, July 30 (game #879)

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 Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answe

<![CDATA[ <article> <div class="fancy-box"><div class="fancy_box-title">Looking for a different day?</div><div class="fancy_box_body"><p class="fancy-box__body-text">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'. <strong>If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead</strong> then click here: <a data-analytics-id="inline-link" href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands-today-answers-hints-29-july-2026"><strong>NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #878)</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p></div></div><p>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.</p><p>Want more word-based fun? Then check out my <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/nyt-connections-today-answers-hints-30-july-2026">NYT Connections today</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/quordle-today-answers-clues-30-july-2026">Quordle today</a> pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/wordle-today">Wordle today</a> page for the original viral word game.</p><p><em>SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.</em></p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-879-hint-1-today-s-theme"><span>NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #1 - today's theme</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Today's NYT Strands theme is… Trade names</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-879-hint-2-clue-words"><span>NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #2 - clue words</span></h2><p>Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.</p><ul><li>WART</li><li>RAVE</li><li>MAST</li><li>STOP</li><li>TROOPER</li><li>PASTE</li></ul><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-879-hint-3-spangram-letters"><span>NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #3 - spangram letters</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>How many letters are in today's spangram?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Spangram has 8 letters</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-879-hint-4-spangram-position"><span>NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #4 - spangram position</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>• <strong>First side: </strong>left, 1st row</p><p>• <strong>Last side: </strong>right, 1st row</p></article></section><p>Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.</p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-879-the-answers"><span>NYT Strands today (game #879) - the answers</span></h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1920px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="QjktuNYqpexvszVDZT6wpP" name="TR_nyt_strands-answers-879" alt="NYT Strands answers for game 879 on a blue background" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QjktuNYqpexvszVDZT6wpP.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: New York Times)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The answers to today's Strands, game #879, are…</p><ul><li>SMITH</li><li>MASON</li><li>JOINER</li><li>TANNER</li><li>COOPER</li><li>WEAVER</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: ARTISANS</strong></li></ul><ul><li><strong>My rating: </strong> Hard</li><li><strong>My score: </strong> 1 hint</li></ul><p>As I was working around the board collecting “trade names” I could not help but wonder how many of today’s trades would be considered the work of ARTISANS in the future — programmer, writer, barista?</p><p>Many in the search are jobs that are now quite niche, yet we only need think of how many people are named SMITH or COOPER to realize how commonplace they once were.</p><p>Not so commonplace, however, to prevent me from needing a hint, although in my case it was laziness that prompted me to take the shortcut, thus demonstrating my inevitable replacement by a far more capable AI version.</p><iframe title="How did you do today?" description="Let me know in the comments below" minimumCommentCount="0" class="position-center" data-lazy-priority="low" data-lazy-src=""></iframe><h3 class="article-body__section" id="section-yesterday-s-nyt-strands-answers-wednesday-july-29-game-878"><span>Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 29, game #878)</span></h3><ul><li>DOLL</li><li>PUPPET</li><li>DUMMY</li><li>MANNEQUIN</li><li>FIGURINE</li><li>STATUE</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: FABRICATED</strong></li></ul><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>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 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands" target="_blank">NYT Games site</a> on desktop or mobile.</p><p>I've got a full guide to h<a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands">ow to play NYT Strands,</a> complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.</p></article></section> </article> ]]>