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Today's NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 18, #352

Ouch! Today's Strands puzzle, No. 352, for Tuesday, Feb. 18, has a painful topic.

Headshot of Gael Cooper
Headshot of Gael Cooper
Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read
New York Times Strands word game on a phone

Need help with Strands? We've got you.

 James Martin/CNET

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections  and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle has a fun theme, and I found the words easy to locate. But one of them surprised me. Let's just say that I don't remember Perry from Phineas and Ferb being a dangerous critter in this specific way. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for 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 Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today's Strands puzzle

Today's Strands theme is: Ouch!

If that doesn't help you, here's a clue: Lead singer for The Police.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

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

  • JELLY, SELL, CELL, FISH, SELF, SELFISH, GITS, BITS, NITS, HORN, BUMBLE, PLAT

Answers for today's Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you've got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

  • HORNET, JELLYFISH, SCORPION, BUMBLEBEE, PLATYPUS

Today's Strands spangram

Today's Strands spangram is STINGERS. To find it, start with the S that's three letters down on the furthest column to the right, and wind across and down.

completed NYT Strands puzzle for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, #352

The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, #352.

 NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I've found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn't even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT. 

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK