The theme “Reunion” encouraged players to think socially, linking words that represent people coming back together again.
Spotting the spangram “REUNION” early made it easier to unlock clustered theme words like GATHER and MEET.
Clever mix of common and complex synonyms made this weekend’s puzzle satisfying without being overly difficult to solve.
Welcome to NYT Strands! It’s Saturday, your coffee’s hot, your brain’s half-awake, and your word-hunting instincts are tingling. Today’s puzzle might just toy with your logic and tickle your vocabulary in all the right places.
Whether you're a seasoned strand-solver or just here to procrastinate folding laundry, we’re glad you made it. Expect twists, sneaky prefixes, and that one word you swear you’ve seen before—but can’t quite place.
Ready to untangle today’s web of words? Let the weekend wordplay begin!
Fill the board
Theme words stay highlighted in blue when found.
Drag or tap letters to form words. In the case of tapping, double-tap the last letter to submit.
Theme words fill the board; no two theme words overlap.
Find the ‘spangram’
The spangram is descriptive of the theme of the puzzle and touches two opposite sides of the board. Two words may comprise it.
The spangram highlights yellow once found.
An example of a spangram and theme words: PEAR, FRUIT, BANANA, APPLE, etc.
Need a tip?
Get a hint by finding non-theme words.
For every three non-theme words, a hint is earned.
Hints display the letters of a theme word. When one hint is already active on the board, this hint will show the letter order of that word.
Your task is to find the words hidden inside that correspond to the theme of the puzzle. In case you are stuck, simply look for whatever words you can find.
Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words.
These are the words you can use to get those hints, but any four or more lettered words will do:
Hints: ROSE, ROSES, GATE, SCONE, TEAM, TAME, TEEM, SCENE, GREET, NOSE, THEN, MUST, BARE, BEAR, BEARS, BARM, BALM, BALMS
These are answers related to the theme. The object of the puzzle is to find them all. This includes the spangram, the theme word that goes all the way across the puzzle.
When you have all of them, you will be using every letter on the board. Here goes the non-spangram answers:
Answers: MEET, MUSTER, GATHER, CONVENE, ASSEMBLE, CONGREGATE
REUNION: spans the board horizontally, starting with RE and stretching across opposite sides in the middle rows, so locating that helped unlock the rest.
Congrats if you found it—and if not, now you’ve got the full reveal. Happy puzzling!
The theme ‘Reunion’ centered around togetherness, with words like ASSEMBLE, MEET, and CONVENE creating a smooth but slightly sneaky challenge. The spangram REUNION was tucked cleverly, encouraging pattern recognition over brute force searching.
A heartwarming theme with a moderately tricky layout, the NYT Strands today rewarded those who thought rationally. If you spotted ‘REUNION’ early, the rest followed like old friends falling back into step.