Today’s Strands puzzle focuses on culinary terms, highlighting different ways to cut and prepare food.
Using starting letters and word lengths helps players identify the hidden kitchen-related words efficiently.
The spangram “MAKING THE CUT” ties all answers together, emphasizing the puzzle’s cooking-themed challenge.
The New York Times Strands puzzle for Friday, named "On The Chopping Block," has a gourmet plus for those who fancy playing with words. It is the obscured spangram of the words associated with food processing that depicts the acts of slicing, dicing, and chopping.
Today, the theme of NYT Strands is more dedicated to vocabulary used for cutting or preparing ingredients. From very basic cuts to more advanced culinary techniques, the words display the usual ways of working in the kitchen. The spangram brings out advanced knife skills in cooking, connecting all the answers most satisfyingly.
Here are hints for the puzzle to guide players without giving away the full answer:
JU - A classic thin-cut method often used for vegetables.
CU - A small, regular piece, often seen in soups or stews.
DI - Similar to the previous, but slightly smaller and cube-like.
CH - A fancy term for finely slicing herbs or leafy greens.
SL - A common way to create uniform portions from larger items.
MI - Minced very finely, often for seasoning or sauces.
JULIENNE
CUBE
DICE
CHIFFONADE
SLICE
MINCE
The spangram for today is MAKING THE CUT. It goes through the whole grid and links up the whole puzzle by showing the main idea of food preparation and accuracy. If players find the spangram at the beginning, they can easily position the other words.
Focus on words that fit the theme conceptually first.
Utilize the first few letters to limit the options.
Finding the spangram early might uncover the main concept of the puzzle.
Take a methodical approach to ensure you do not overlook any concealed words or duplicates.
The Friday NYT Strands puzzle is a clever blend of culinary vocabulary and logic. The whole process of solving the puzzle hones one's recognition of patterns and sharpens one's word skills, at the same time offering a nice mental break. These daily puzzles not only provide the mind with an easy challenge but also help the vocabulary to grow.