Tips, Answers and Help for Today’s NYT Strands for Dec. 11, #283

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Here is my Strands confession of the day. Sometimes, even after I have been given the letters of one of the answers, I am completely confused. I can’t get rid of them. I’ve had a few of them in today’s responses. Usually, if it’s a topic I know very well, I recognize the word in letters, but today was not one of those days. Or — hint, hint — I took woodshop in the seventh grade and made a wonderful trinket box that I still have today. I got an A again. But enough about me, let’s get to today’s Strands answers.

Also, I go into depth about the rules of the Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turn 1: These 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Today’s Strands puzzle hint

Today’s Strands theme is: The board is certified.

If that doesn’t help, here’s a clue: Sawdust Time.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find the hidden words that match the theme of the puzzle. If you’re stuck, find any words you can find. Every time you find three words of four or more letters, the Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those tips, but any four or more letter words you find will work:

• NOEL, SON, SIRE, DEW, GROW, DIL, SHINE, WIRE, LODE, LATE, RATE, RATES, WELD, WORRE, SWEAR, SHIRE, HIRE, THIS, WORK, PAINFULLY, EDIT.

Answers to today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers to the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find all, including the spangram, the theme word from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you get them all (at first I thought there were always eight but I learned that the number can vary), all the letters on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• VISE, DRILL, LATHE, PLANE, CHISEL, JIGSAW, SANDER

Today Strands spangram

Today Strands spangram is FUNCTIONALITY OF DRUGS. To find it, start with the W which is three letters up and three lines down from the far left row, then circle back down.