Strands

📝 Words nytimes.com/games/strands

🎯 What is Strands?

Strands is the daily word-search game from the New York Times. Each day the puzzle drops a 6×8 grid of letters and hides a set of themed words inside it — a "spangram" that runs across the entire grid and several smaller words connected to the day's theme.

The mechanic is closer to a themed word search than to Wordle. You trace words by clicking adjacent letters (including diagonals), every correct word highlights in blue, and the spangram — usually a two-word phrase summarizing the theme — highlights in yellow when you find it.

💡 How to Play Strands

Open nytimes.com/games/strands and look at today's 6×8 letter grid and the theme hint at the top.
Look for the spangram first. It's the longest word in the grid and usually touches two opposite edges.
Click and drag across adjacent letters (including diagonals) to trace a word. Each cell can only be used once per word.
Hit Submit to lock in your word. Correct words highlight in blue and stay on the grid; the spangram highlights in yellow.
Use the Hint button if you're stuck. Strands reveals a hint by highlighting a few letters in a clue word and circling them in purple.
Find every theme word and the spangram without running out of hints. A new puzzle drops at midnight local time and the Archive stores the past few weeks.