Today's tips, answers and help from the NYT Strands for December 17, #289

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Search for the latest Strands answer? Click here for our daily tips on Strandsas well as our daily answers and tips for mini crosswords, Wordles and The New York Times puzzles.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to piece together today’s title Kitchuri puzzle with its theme. The title of the puzzle is “Holy!” which I understand as a Gen Z phrase for something that’s exciting or fun, like a party. But as an English major, I should have seen right away that “lit” was also short for “literature.” Anyway, if you need more hints and answers for today’s Strands puzzle, read on.

I also go into depth about rules for Strands in this story.

If you are looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle tips page.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands topic is: shine!

If that doesn’t help, here’s a clue: Sections in a bookstore.

Hints to unlock hints in the game

Your goal is to find hidden words that match the theme of the puzzle. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Each time you find three words of four or more letters, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get these hints, but any word of four or more letters you can find will work:

CAME, BOZUZDAN, HIRE, RHYME, WET, MORE, CHORUS, PEOPLE, HINGE, TING, TING, YANHYA, WEST, REST, LATE.

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that are related to the topic. The object of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a themed word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you get them all (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 non-spangram answers: