NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, October 20 (game #596)

Looking for another day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears every day at midnight for your time zone. This means that some people always play “today's game” and others always play “yesterday's game.” If you're looking for a Sunday puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands Tips and Answers for Sunday, October 19th (Game #595).

Strands is the New York Times' latest word game, following games like WardleSpelling Bee and Connections – and it's a lot of fun. However, this can be tricky, so read on for my Strands tips.

Want more verbal fun? Then take a look at mine New York connections today And Quordle today pages with hints and answers for these games, as well as Mark's pages Wordle today page of the original viral word game.

SPOILER ALERT: Information on today's NYT Strands news is below, so don't read any further if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands Today (Game #596) – Hint #1 – Today's Topic

What's the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme: “It's in the Mail.”

NYT Strands Today (Game #596) – Hint #2 – Hints

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hint system.

CHASE
MESS
LINK
MORE
SNACK
DUDE

NYT Strands Today (Game #596) – Hint #3 – Spanggram Letters

How many letters are in today's spagram?

• Spangram has 9 letters.

NYT Strands Today (Game #596) – Hint #4 – Spanggram Position

Which two sides of the board are affected by today's spangram?

First side: left, 4th row.

Last side: right, 7th row.

Yes, the answers are below, so DON'T SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands Today (Game #596) – Answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

Answers to today's game #596 Strands:

REMINDER
SIGNATURE
ROUTING
NUMBER
ADDRESS
QUANTITY
SPANGRAM: CHECKLIST

My rating: Hard
My rating: 1 hint

Playing from the UK, I wasn't sure about the terminology of mailing a check, but it all made sense in the end.

Ironically, given that this was a search focused on financial terminology, “chase” was the first non-game word I found, along with several others that gave me a clue.

Getting the MEMO didn't help much, but the next thing I noticed was the CHECKLIST, which helped identify the SIGNATURE; It's always a shock when you realize such a long word has disappeared in plain sight.