NYT ‘Strands’ today: Hints, spangram and full answers for Thursday, June 5

NYT Strands

The New York Times’ daily word puzzle Strands continues to challenge solvers with themed word hunts. For Thursday, June 5, the puzzle leans heavily into nursery rhyme territory, referencing a well-known verse that dates back centuries. If you’re stuck, here’s everything you need—hint, spangram, and complete word list—to crack today’s puzzle.

Strands is the NYT’s word search-style puzzle still in beta testing. Players are given a 6x8 letter grid and must uncover words that share a common theme. Each theme has a clue, and solvers must also find a “spangram”—a special word that connects two opposite sides of the board and sums up the theme. Unlike theme words, the spangram can be a proper noun.

The clue offered by The New York Times is:

“Mary, Mary, quite…”

That line is, of course, a reference to the nursery rhyme “Mary, Mary, quite contrary.”

Today’s custom hint

If the official clue didn’t do it for you, a more direct hint might be:

“Rhyme words”

This nudges you toward searching for words that appear in the lines of a classic rhyme.

Today’s spangram

The spangram for today’s puzzle is:

GARDEN

This ties into the rhyme’s central question: How does your garden grow?

• CONTRARY

• SILVER

• COCKLESHELLS

• BELLS

• MAID

• PRETTY

These words are pulled from different lines of the rhyme, most notably the one that goes:

“With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row.”