Strands Solver,
find every hidden word.

Field guide

How to play Strands — and how this solver helps.

Strands is The New York Times' daily word-search puzzle. Every board is a 6×8 grid of 48 letters, and every puzzle has a theme announced by a short clue at the top. Your job is to find all the theme words — and one special spangram — that, together, use every letter on the board exactly once.

The rules in brief

• Words are formed by linking adjacent letters — horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
• A path can turn in any direction but can never reuse a cell.
• Every theme word relates to the puzzle's theme. Non-theme words you find earn hints but aren't part of the solution.
• The spangram touches two opposite sides of the board and sums up the theme.

What the spangram is

The spangram is the keystone of every Strands puzzle. Unlike the theme words, it always spans the board from one edge to the directly opposite edge — left-to-right across all six columns, or top-to-bottom across all eight rows. It's usually the longest answer and names or describes the theme itself. Finding it early collapses the rest of the puzzle, because it removes a long ribbon of letters from the pool the other words must come from. In the tool above, the spangram is highlighted in yellow and the ordinary theme words in blue, exactly like the game.

How the custom-grid solver works

When you type your board into Solve my grid, the tool treats the 48 letters as a graph and runs a depth-first search from every cell. At each step it walks to any of the eight neighbouring cells, never revisiting one, and checks the growing path against a prefix triebuilt from a 170,000-word dictionary. The trie is the trick that makes it fast: the moment a path's letters stop spelling the start of any real word, that whole branch is abandoned instead of explored. The result is every valid word on the board, grouped by length with the longest first — and the long words at the top are almost always the theme answers.

Strategy: solving the daily puzzle

1. Read the theme clue literally and laterally. A clue like “Take a lap” might mean swimming strokes, running terms, or sewing — note the candidates before you touch the board.
2. Hunt the spangram first. Scan the edges for a long word that could reach the opposite side. Cracking it removes the most letters at once.
3. Work from the long words down. Strands rewards long answers; the solver's longest-first ordering mirrors how the puzzle is built.
4. Use non-theme words for hints. In the real game, every three non-theme words you find unlocks a hint. The solver lists them all so you can see what the board can spell.
5. Fill the whole board. Because every letter is used once, a leftover cluster of letters tells you exactly where the last answer hides.

Tips for finding tricky theme words

• Follow the diagonals. Strands paths bend freely; many answers zig-zag, so don't read the grid like a crossword.
• Mind the length. In Daily Hints mode the masked words show their length and first letter — match those against your theme guesses.
• Trace before you commit. Drag across letters on the board to preview a path; the tool tells you instantly whether it spells a valid dictionary word.

Using the Daily Hints mode

Switch to Daily Hints, pick a date, and you'll see the theme clue. Reveal as little or as much as you like: peek at just the spangram, show first-letters-and-lengths for the theme words, or light up the full board with every answer traced in colour. It's built to nudge you when you're stuck without spoiling the whole grid.

Disclaimer: This tool is an independent fan creation and is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by The New York Times Company. “Strands” is a trademark of its respective owner. Daily hint data is provided for practice and entertainment only.