Miami prosecutors have prepared an indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of two NGO planes that killed four people onboard.
Cuba's Raúl Castro indicted over 1996 fatal downing of two aircraft
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Xi and Putin meet to reaffirm China-Russia ties days after Trump's visit
Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday in a meeting meant to reaffirm ties and that takes place only days after a visit by President Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Maxim Shemetov)
NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, May 20 (game #808)
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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, May 19 (game #807).
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 #808) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… No rush
NYT Strands today (game #808) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- MEAL
- KEYS
- SLICE
- GATE
- RULE
- PLACES
NYT Strands today (game #808) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 12 letters
NYT Strands today (game #808) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: top, 4th column
Last side: bottom, 3rd column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #808) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #808, are…
- RELAXED
- SLOW
- LEISURELY
- PLACID
- CALM
- GENTLE
- SPANGRAM: TAKEYOURTIME
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
One of the many downsides of aging is that you get slower, while the world around you speeds up. I feel this doubly so as a knee injury means that I can currently only perambulate the world at snail’s pace.
Regardless, I still feel that people are in too much of a hurry to get to places they don’t need to rush to and I am fully on board with the promotion of today’s words into the consciousness of a chaotic planet.
Ironically I didn’t really employ the mantra TAKEYOURTIME as I zoomed through the search beginning with the letter X, which pointed me towards RELAXED.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, May 19, game #807)
- MOUND
- HILL
- KNOLL
- SLOPE
- RIDGE
- BUTTE
- HUMMOCK
- SPANGRAM: HIGHERGROUND
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.
'Taiwan Travelogue' wins the 2026 International Booker Prize
The novel is the first work translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the award, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
(Image credit: Adrian Dennis)
Putin visits China to reaffirm Russia ties
The Kremlin has said Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also "key international and regional issues."
(Image credit: Alexander Kazakov)
Monday, May 18, 2026
Trump says he's called off Iran strike at request of Gulf allies
President Donald Trump says he is holding off on a military strike on Iran planned for Tuesday because "serious negotiations" are underway to end the war.
(Image credit: Vahid Salemi)
NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, May 19 (game #807)
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 Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, May 18 (game #806).
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 #807) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… On the rise
NYT Strands today (game #807) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- MOCK
- HULL
- POKE
- ROLL
- GREEK
- DIRGE
NYT Strands today (game #807) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today's spangram?
• Spangram has 12 letters
NYT Strands today (game #807) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
First side: bottom, 1st column
Last side: bottom, 3rd column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #807) - the answers
The answers to today's Strands, game #807, are…
- MOUND
- HILL
- KNOLL
- SLOPE
- RIDGE
- BUTTE
- HUMMOCK
- SPANGRAM: HIGHERGROUND
- My rating: Hard
- My score: Perfect
I had never heard of the word HUMMOCK before, but then I don’t frequent that many peat bogs, so I think I can be forgiven. It’s a great word to say, though.
The rest of the words describing HIGHERGROUND I am more familiar with, especially as I am currently training for a very hilly long-distance cycle ride in September and trying to build up the ability to get up any HILL without moaning, groaning and stopping. As a consequence I am recalibrating some things I used to regard as hills as now a mere SLOPE.
Meanwhile, BUTTE took me a little while as I initially thought it only had one T – which would instead be the rather rugged Scottish island, which I have discovered via a Google search contains a large number of hummocks.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, May 18, game #806)
- ORANGE
- CLEMENTINE
- LIME
- KUMQUAT
- POMELO
- TANGERINE
- SPANGRAM: CITRUS
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.