Sunday, November 30, 2025

NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, December 1 (game #638)

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 Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, November 30 (game #637).

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

Today's NYT Strands theme is… On the ice

NYT Strands today (game #638) - hint #2 - clue words

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

  • SHOCK
  • MORE
  • BOSS
  • ROAM
  • TONIC
  • SICK

NYT Strands today (game #638) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #638) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First side: top, 1st column

Last side: top, 5th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #638) - the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 638 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #638, are…

  • SKATES
  • PUCK
  • STICKS
  • GOALS
  • SCOREBOARD
  • ZAMBONI
  • SPANGRAM: HOCKEYRINK
  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: Perfect

From the theme, my first thought was SKATES – but it wasn’t until I got PUCK that I realized that this was a hockey-themed search.

After getting the STICKS and GOALS answers, I hit the limit of my hockey knowledge but thankfully got SCOREBOARD. This just left ZAMBONI – a word I had not heard of until today, but I have since learned is the brand name of the machine that cleans the rink.

I had thought that my dreams of being involved in professional sports were over, but now that I know that the job of zamboni driver exists… although as someone who struggles with reverse parking, I'm not sure that I’d qualify.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, November 30, game #637)

  • LIONS
  • ANTS
  • GEESE
  • COWS
  • PRIDE
  • FLOCK
  • ARMY
  • HERD
  • SPANGRAM:INITTOGETHER

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.

Saturday, November 29, 2025