Today's NYT Strands Tips, Answers & Help for January 4, #307

In search of the most recent Directions answers? Click here for our daily Strands tipsas well as our daily mini crossword, Wordle and Connections answers and hints for The New York Times.

When I saw the topic for today Directions puzzle, which is “literary couples”, I thought it would be the names of married writers, like F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. (Hey, New York Times Games Editors, free idea for a future topic!) Spoiler: It's not. Don't think of “literary couples” as people, but as paired words in the titles of their books. If you need tips and answers, read on.

I also go in depth about rules for Strands in this story.

If you are looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit them CNET's NYT puzzle tips page.

Hint for today's Strands puzzle

Today's Strands topic is: Literary pairs

If that doesn't help, here's a clue: Like war and peace, or reason and sensibility.

Word clue to unlock hints in the game

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

PAGE, PAGE, CUT, BOOM, SHIM, GLITTER, TILES, BOUND, TIRES, DICE

Answers for today's Strands puzzle

These are the answers that relate to the topic. The object 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 get them all (I originally thought there were always eight, but I found out the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-spangram answers: