A shade envious – Strands NYT hints and answers (May 3)

To solve today’s NYT Strands, I had to reconsider the theme and approach the puzzle from a different angle multiple times, even after finding the Spangram. It’s one of the few recent themes where identifying the Spangram as the first word isn’t difficult if you put some thought into it.

How to play NYT Strands

The best approach to play the May 3 NYT Strands is to find any three letters in the grid to get a hint at the first word. Look closely at the letters and connect four or more in any direction, not necessarily in a row, to either score, if the word is on theme, or get a third of a hint, if it’s off theme. Get three hints and the game will show you a set of letters that are a part of one word from the solution, though you’ll still have to find the right way to connect them to make a valid word. If you find a word that goes from left to right or top to bottom, that’s the Spangram, which is a second hint that clarifies the theme, since all other words are associated with it in some way. This was my approach and I ended up finding the Spangram before unlocking the first hint.

NYT Strands A shade envious hints (May 3)

I first guessed “tips” just to fill up my hints bar, since it was the first word I saw. Then, I decided to stick to the theme and look for words either related to shadows or colors, because of the “shade” hint. I couldn’t find “dark” or “black.” Instead, I found “green,” which really looked like it was on theme, but it was wrong. Something was missing. It had to be something with colors, and some people say green is the color of envy.

NYT Strands A shade envious Spangram and solutions (May 3)

The May 3 NYT Strands Spangram is GREENS, going from the “G” in the sixth row in the first column to the “S” in the fifth row of the last column. Yes, what was missing from my “green” guess was literally a single letter “S”. My first instinct was to look for vegetables and salad greens, like lettuce and spinach, but they weren’t there. GREENS literally refers to anything that has a green color, which is why you have to change how you see the letter grid after you realize this.

Here are all the words that are a part of the May 3 Strands solution:

• GREENS (Spangram!)
• OLIVE
• JUNGLE
• FOREST
• EMERALD
• ARTICHOKE
• PISTACHIO

A new Strands puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone.

If you want to read more articles about word games, you can also check out some of our Wordle guides, including answers to common questions about the game or basic suggestions and tips.