In search of most recent Response from the strands? Click here for our daily Strands cheats, as well as our daily answers and tips for the New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be tricky. Some answers are difficult to decipher, so if you need clues and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules of Strands in this story.
If you are looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle tips page.
Learn more: NYT Connections Celebrates Its First Anniversary: These Are the 5 Hardest Puzzles Yet
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: I’ve never seen this before!
If that doesn’t help, here’s a hint: not the old stuff.
Clue words to unlock clues in the game
Your goal is to find hidden words that match the theme of the puzzle. If you’re stuck, find all the words you can. Every time you find three words of four or more letters, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. Here are the words I used to get these clues, but any words of four letters or more that you find will work:
- WIND, TINE, NITE, GIVE, GIVE, GIVEN, LION, MINE, GLARE, ROUND, ROUNDS
Answers to today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that are related to the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that extends from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have them all (originally I thought there were always eight, but I learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-spangram responses:
- FRESH, NEW, SEMINAL, ORIGINAL, INVENTIVE
Today’s Strands spangram
The NYT Strands puzzle completed by January 3, 2026.
NYT/Screenshot by CNETToday’s Strands spangram is INNOVATION. To find it, start with B which is the leftmost letter in the top row and finish.
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Quick tips for strands
#1: To get more clue words, see if you can change the words you’ve already found, adding an “S” or other variations. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL or BILL.
#2: Once you find a theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot any other related words.
#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will illuminate each letter in order, revealing the word.
