NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Saturday, June 29 (game #118)

I really enjoyed today's Strands puzzle and hope you will do too. Maybe that's because I found it to be quite easy – but don't worry if you struggle a little, because I've got some hints for you below.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… It's way over your head

NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• LETTER
• ELITE
• SPOON
• NOTE
• PLAN
• PLAY

NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Heavens above

NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: left, 4th row

• Last: right, 4th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #118) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #118, are…

• COMET
• ASTEROID
• PLANET
• GALAXY
• MOON
• SATELLITE
• SPANGRAM: OUTERPSACE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I'm a proper space buff and spend much of my free time staring at the skies through a telescope, taking photos of distant galaxies and nebulae – or more often cursing the fact that it's a cloudy night yet again.

Anyway, that helped me find all of the answers easily once again today – well, once I'd worked out what the theme was. I'd uncovered dozens of potential answers, all of which ended up merely being hints (none of which I used), before I finally got COMET, and realized what the connection was. After that it was plain sailing, other than the spangram, which took me a little while to identify.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 28 June, game #117)

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

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.