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 was a little tricky at first, even though the answers are pretty short and simple. If you need advice and answers, keep reading.
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: The straight and the narrow
If that doesn’t help, here’s a hint: not curved.
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:
- KITE, KITES, CITE, CITES, LONG, NOTE, NOTES, PASTE, PALE, BATE, SPOT, POTS, LION, LIONS, STEAK
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:
- CANE, POLE, POLE, STICK, ANKLE, STAKE, STAKE
Today’s Strands spangram
The NYT Strands puzzle completed by January 25, 2026.
Today’s Strands spangram is STICKY SITUATION. To find it, start with the S which is the bottom letter in the leftmost row, and go straight up, then straight down.
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