NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Friday, June 28 (game #117)

It's time for the last Strands puzzle of the week – and it's a rather apt one for the weekend, I think. Enjoy!

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today , NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… That's my jam!

NYT Strands today (game #117) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• BLUE
• LUCK
• COUNT
• ROUND
• GONER
• LOSS

NYT Strands today (game #117) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Playlist variety

NYT Strands today (game #117) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: left, 6th row

• Last: right, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #117) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #117, are…

• SALSA
• SOUL
• JAZZ
• BLUES
• ROCK
• DISCO
• FOLK
• COUNTRY
• SPANGRAM: MUSICGENRE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I was a little thrown today by the the combination of the theme clue – 'That's my jam' – and the first answer I found, SALSA. In my head, I thought this might be another food-related Strands game; salsa could be described as a type of jam, maybe? No, I was on totally the wrong path there, as became obvious as soon as I solved the next couple, SOUL and JAZZ, at which point this became rather easy.

I spotted MUSIC soon after, and a process of elimination led me to the spangram, MUSICGENRE, and once that was in place it was even more of a simple solve.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday 27 June, game #116)

• CHEESE
• GRAVY
• BISCUIT
• MACARONI
• BURGER
• FRIES
• SPANGRAM: COMBOMEALS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to h ow to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.