NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, July 5 (game #489)

Looking for a different day?A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 4 (game #488).Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.NYT Strands today (game #489) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Every second countsNYT Strands today (game #489) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.PERSONHOMEROOTSHAKESWOONMATENYT Strands today (game #489) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?• Spangram has 11 lettersNYT Strands today (game #489) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?First side: left, 4th rowLast side: right, 6th rowRight, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.NYT Strands today (game #489) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #489, are…CLOCKWATCHCHRONOMETERHOURGLASSSUNDIALSPANGRAM: TIMEKEEPERSMy rating: HardMy score: 1 hintMy first thought when I saw the theme “every second counts” was the TV show The Bear, as that phrase has appeared many times across all four seasons.However, I soon realized that was very niche and we were actually looking for a much more literal interpretation.Suffering a bad case of letter blindness, I took a hint after finding dozens of words that we weren’t looking for. CLOCK unlocked the rest of the board in a matter of minutes.Until this puzzle, I didn’t actually realize what a CHRONOMETER was, I just thought it was a posh wristwatch. But the main thing this search got me thinking about is how we build our entire life around time, but we have so few TIMEKEEPERS – as evidenced by the fact that this search includes SUNDIAL and HOURGLASS. It’s almost as if we haven’t got enough time to invent new ways to keep time. How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 4, game #488)BURGERSSALADCOLESLAWBRATSBEANSWATERMELONSPANGRAM: BARBECUEWhat is NYT Strands?Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.