NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, October 28 (game #969)

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Comedy club

NYT Strands today (game #969) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• CHESS
• TEAK
• SKIN
• SCRUB
• NECK
• PLATE

NYT Strands today (game #969) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 13 letters

NYT Strands today (game #969) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First side: bottom, 5th column

• Last side: top, 2nd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #969) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #969, are…

• FARCE
• SKETCH
• IMPROV
• SLAPSTICK
• BURLESQUE
• SPANGRAM: FUNNYBUSINESS

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Being a comedian is hard work and possibly the hardest part of the FUNNYBUSINESS is people expecting you to be “funny” 24 hours a day no matter what the situation.

For some comedians that’s easy, because their act is essentially an extension of their personality — but for many who craft and perfect their routines and persona it can all be something of a strain; that’s why you’ll often hear people complaining about comics being really grumpy or miserable in real life, when the only evidence they have to go on is when they stood next to them at an airport.

Anyhow, I digress. After spotting FARCE pretty early on I knew we were looking for comedy genres, although despite this I still labored over SLAPSTICK (or stickslap as I initially attempted).

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, October 27, game #968)

• ANTS
• RATS
• MICE
• COCKROACHES
• TICKS
• TERMITES
• SPANGRAM: EXTERMINATOR

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.