Hints and Answers for Strands on Sunday, July 20, 2025
If you’re looking for clues and solutions to the Strands puzzle for Sunday, July 20, 2025, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll provide some hints, tips, and eventually the full solution for the puzzle with the theme “Shore thing!”
To make it easy to access these hints every day, consider bookmarking this page. You can also find past hints here if you want to revisit previous puzzles and see what you might have missed.
Below, I’ll share some indirect hints about today’s Strands answers. Further down the page, I’ll reveal the spangram and all the theme words. Take your time and only read the hints you need!
Clues for the Spangram
The spangram for today’s puzzle is related to a clothing category that often goes on sale as summer comes to an end.
Clues for the Theme Words
These theme words are designed to handle salty water and sand, making them perfect for a beach setting.
Spoiler Alert: Answers to Today’s Strands Puzzle
If you’re ready to know the answers, here they are:
What is the Spangram?
Today’s spangram is BEACHATTIRE.
What Are the Theme Words?
The theme words in today’s puzzle are:
– BIKINI
– TRUNKS
– SANDALS
– SWIMSUIT
– WRAP
– SARONG
Here’s what the board looks like when the puzzle is solved.
How I Solved Today’s Strands
The puzzle has a clear beach-themed focus. Starting from the upper left corner, BIKINI is found there. In the upper right, TRUNKS appears. Below that, there’s the word BEACH, but it doesn’t serve as a theme word. It’s not yet clear how it connects.
Looking further down, SWIMSUIT is located in the bottom right. The spangram, BEACHATTIRE, is highlighted in yellow. Above SWIMSUIT, you’ll find SANDALS. Below the left half of the spangram, SARONG is present. Lastly, WRAP completes the list of theme words.
How to Play Strands
Strands is available on the New York Times website and in the NYT Games app. When you begin, you’ll see a grid of letters accompanied by a clue that gives a hint about the puzzle’s theme. Your goal is to find hidden words within the grid that match the theme.
This game combines elements of a crossword and a word search. The most important word to find is the spangram, which clearly states the puzzle’s theme. For example, if the theme is “Better with age,” the spangram might be FERMENTED. The spangram spans the entire board either horizontally or vertically, and it will be highlighted in yellow once found. Solving the spangram usually makes the rest of the puzzle easier.
In Strands, words can be found in any direction—up, down, left, right, or diagonal. Each letter can only be used once. There is only one correct solution. When you correctly identify a theme word, such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI, it will be highlighted in blue.
If you’re struggling, you can submit non-theme words (as long as they are four letters or more) to earn credit toward a hint. After submitting three non-theme words, the “Hint” button becomes available. Clicking it will highlight the letters of one of the theme words. You’ll still need to connect the letters in the correct order to form the word. If a hint is already on the board and you use another hint before solving the word, the letter order will be revealed.
How to Win Strands
Unlike other games like Connections or Wordle, Strands cannot be failed. When you submit guesses, you’ll either correctly identify a word, get credit toward a hint, or see the text shake if the word is too short or invalid. There is no limit on guesses, and no time constraint.
You win when you’ve used all the letters on the board by identifying the spangram and all the theme words. Upon solving the puzzle, you’ll see a shareable card showing your performance: blue dots indicate theme words you found, a yellow dot shows when you found the spangram, and a lightbulb indicates words you received a hint for.
