Hints for today’s NYT Strands are simple if you don’t strive for perfection.

Strands, the New York Times‘ refined word-search game, invites players to offer a twist on the classic word search. Words can be created from adjacent letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, and they can alter direction, forming distinct shapes and designs. Each letter in the grid contributes to a solution. There’s always a theme that ties all answers together, along with the “spangram,” a unique word or phrase that represents the day’s theme and spans the entire grid either horizontally or vertically.

By presenting an ambiguous hint and not supplying a word list, Strands offers a challenging game that typically requires a bit more time to complete than its counterparts, like Wordle and Connections.

If you’re feeling stuck or don’t have 10 or more minutes to tackle today’s puzzle, we have all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you can use to advance at your own speed.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Out of line

The words pertain to positioning.

Today’s NYT Strands theme clearly outlined

These terms depict things that are not straight.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today’s spangram is A Little Off.

NYT Strands word list for December 17

• Askew

• Crooked

• Lopsided

• A Little Off

• Uneven

• Titled

• Aslant

Interested in other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page offers more hints, and if you seek additional puzzles, Mashable has games available now!

Explore our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the date you’re looking for? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.