TechRadar Posts Oct. 21 Answers for NYT Strands, Quordle and Connections

For Strands, TechRadar said the theme was “On a higher level” and the spangram was INTHEATTIC, a 10-letter answer that touches the left side in the third row and the right side in the third row. The clue words available to unlock in-game hints were STORK, YURT, ACORN, THUG, BONE and BOOTS. The answers were BOXES, LUGGAGE, TRUNKS, YEARBOOKS and DECORATIONS. TechRadar rated the puzzle easy and reported a perfect score. It said it spotted the spangram almost immediately after connecting BOXES because it is drawn to rare letters, and that it keeps most of the listed items in its attic except YEARBOOKS.

For Quordle #1731, TechRadar said the puzzle had four different standard vowels, two answers containing repeated letters, no Q, Z, X or J, and two answers starting with the same letter. The starting letters were M, V, V and N. The answers were MOIST, VALVE, VERSE and NORTH. The Daily Sequence answers were SUPER, UPPER, VALUE and QUAIL. TechRadar said V used to be a blind spot but that it was not caught out by VALVE and VERSE, and that it was nearly undone by the number of options for words ending O-I-S-T.

For Connections #1228, TechRadar listed the Classic children’s games group as DUCK DUCK GOOSE, HOT POTATO, LEAPFROG and MUSICAL CHAIRS; the Important person group as ALPHA DOG, BIG CHEESE, HEAVYWEIGHT and TOP BANANA; the Famous paintings group as AMERICAN GOTHIC, CAMPBELL’S SOUP CAN, SUNFLOWERS and THE SCREAM; and the Double misnomers group, in which neither word is an accurate description, as ENGLISH HORN, GRAPE-NUTS, MANTIS SHRIMP and SWEETBREAD. TechRadar rated the puzzle easy and reported a perfect score, and said it completed the groups in yellow-green-blue-purple order.

The three columns are part of TechRadar’s daily word-game coverage, which also points readers to Wordle and other NYT Games pages. Each new puzzle appears at midnight in the player’s time zone, so some players are on “today’s game” while others are still on “yesterday’s.” TechRadar’s Strands column describes the game as the NYT’s latest word game after Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections, while its Quordle column notes that Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still running after more than 1,500 games.