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NYT Strands explores themes of watchfulness and responsibility
Spangram: TAKECARE anchors today’s grid with a message of protection
Theme words reflect roles of oversight, defense, and guardianship
Watchfulness and guardianship present universal themes in protection: Thus, solving today’s New York Times Strands leads one to understand the meaning of protection. With the title ‘Keeping an Eye on Things,’ the puzzle cleverly interweaves words expressing watchfulness and concern to portray the crucial yet multifaceted duties of protectors and guards. If you like word puzzles or cryptic clues, this one will be a truly rewarding challenge.
Strands maintains its tried-and-true approach: a 6x8 letter grid with concealed words all related to an overall theme. The grandeur is the spangram, a unique word running along two borders of the board that uncovers a significant observation about the puzzle’s message. The objective is to discover all theme words to finish the challenge.
Start with the identification of the main words of four letters or more. These early findings will not necessarily show you the theme but act as stepping stones, leading you incrementally to the main vocabulary of watchfulness and guardianship. This progression eventually culminates in the discovery of the Spangram.
TAKECARE: TAKECARE dominates the grid, spanning the width and representing the puzzle’s central concept of watchfulness and defense. It sets the tone for the rest of the challenge and connects the meaning of the other words.
Overtones relating to the theme of watchfulness and guardianship can be heard with every word:
GUARDIAN: One that guards and protects
CUSTODIAN: One who keeps and guards something
TRUSTEE: An individual entrusted with some responsibility
STEWARD: One who has charge of something or who care for it
PROTECTOR: One who defends or protects
Both words place the puzzle into more familiar phrases of care and responsibility, nudging the solvers to look into many facets of guarding and monitoring.
Rather than the usual word search, this one bids a heavy meditation on guardianship and the roles of a watcher. With TAKECARE straddling the board diagonally, the other words fit like the issues of responsibility piled over time. Give the mind a workout while being reminded that somewhere out there, vigilant care watches over us.
