NYT Strands

Strands entered public beta in March 2024 and soon joined the daily NYT Games lineup. It blends a themed word search with an overarching “spangram” that threads through the grid to reveal the puzzle’s topic. Players earn hints by finding non-theme words before locking in the final set.

• Launch: beta in March 2024; graduated to the main Games roster later that year.
• Board: letter grid that can be dragged in any direction, including diagonals.
• Signature twist: each puzzle hides a spangram touching two opposite sides while summarizing the theme.

Official access and pricing

Play Strands at NYTimes.com/games/strands. During its beta release the puzzle is free on web and in the NYT Games app; long-term access is expected to live inside the NYT Games or All Access subscription once the beta concludes.

Development highlights

The Games team built Strands to emphasize theme discovery more than speed. Early puzzles experimented with hint frequency; the current version awards a hint after every three non-theme finds, ensuring solvers never stall for long. Color-coded tiles and gentle animations reinforce progress for casual players.

Behind the scenes, editors test letter layouts to make sure multiple spangram paths are technically possible but only one is elegant. Daily puzzles aim for 6–10 theme words plus the spangram, while Thursday-style editions may introduce curveballs such as nested words or mirrored shapes hidden in the grid.

Strategy: taming the spangram

• Follow the clue: the daily prompt at the top of the grid gives a strong hint about possible theme words.
• Work edges first: because the spangram must touch opposite sides, scan perimeter letters for promising openings.
• Harvest hints: when stuck, deliberately pick short filler words to earn a hint that highlights a theme tile.
• Use diagonals deliberately: spangrams often weave diagonally to hit both borders; trace zigzags before committing.
• Color reads: when a hint paints a tile, imagine three-letter trios that include it and stretch toward opposite edges.

Opening gambit: scan for double letters or unusual consonants (Q, X, Z) on the perimeter—they frequently anchor the spangram. When the grid feels congested, switch to short filler words like plural nouns to earn a quick hint and refocus on the theme.

Practice loops and opener routines

Apply a "Genius"-style rotation to your openings: one day, enter three filler words immediately to earn a hint; another day, refuse hints until you have traced a full spangram candidate. Keep a notebook of common spangram shapes (straight columns, Z-paths, winding S-curves) and check them against each new grid’s borders before committing moves.

• Edge tracing: run a finger along the border to mark where vowels sit; viable spangrams usually touch at least one vowel on each side.
• Two-pass method: first pass collects easy theme words near corners, second pass focuses solely on building a border-to-border spine.
• Color coding: after a hint, write down the hinted letter and sketch two possible paths outward. Testing both prevents getting stuck on a single assumption.
• Reverse engineering: after finishing, redraw the board and try to craft a different spangram using the same letters. This trains flexible routing when tomorrow’s puzzle demands it.

Extra trivia

Strands’ name nods to both strands of letters and strands of a story. It was the first NYT Games release to foreground a single, puzzle-wide word (the spangram) as a thematic anchor, differentiating it from Spelling Bee and Wordle, which rely on discrete guesses.

Practice idea: draw a blank grid on paper and attempt to place your own spangram touching both borders, then backfill theme words. This reverse designing exercise trains you to recognize likely spangram routes when solving the official puzzle.