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September 26’s NYT Strands puzzle revolved around time and its keepers.
The spangram GRANDFATHERCLOCK connected the theme of enduring, mechanical rhythm.
From CHIMES to PENDULUM, the puzzle highlighted sound, precision, and timeless motion.
It’s Friday, September 26, and the day is ambivalent, rain sweeping across rooftops one minute, sunlight peeking through the next. Today’s New York Times Strands puzzle compactly fits into the mood with its theme: As old as time. It’s a contemplation of hours and machinery, of the constant tick of things that survive storms and sun just the same. A clock puzzle, but one of perseverance.
The grid, purposeful and constructed, operates like a small clock. Word after word revealed, it fits into position, blanching to pale blue like a gear falling into its casing. Spanning the board, the spangram lies confidently, stabilizing the board as the pendulum of meaning rocks back and forth.
For the novice, Strands is the New York Times’ stylish redo of the word search. Each puzzle has a theme, and set within it is the spangram: a word or phrase that moves across the grid in various directions, sometimes making sharp turns, unifying all the other words.
Players may rely on clues if necessary: three correct non-theme words of four or more letters reveal a hint towards a single solution. It’s a fair system, open but never revealing too much.
GRANDFATHERCLOCK: The imposing, sonorous presence in the space, striking hour after hour. Not merely furniture, but heritage and beat personified.
CHIMES: The noise that marks time’s arrival, melodic and on cue.
WINDER: The quiet ritual that gives life to the clock’s movement.
GEARS: Hidden precision, interlocking pieces ensuring each second flows.
WEIGHTS: Heavy anchors that mark time’s descent with purpose.
PENDULUM: The hypnotic swing, steady and infinite, echoing life’s cadence.
Together, these words map the anatomy of a timekeeper, each part functional, but also symbolic of endurance.
Also Read: Today’s NYT Strands Hints and Answers for September 25, 2025
Today’s NYT Strands is not quite about clocks. It was about the marking of time itself. The CHIMES, GEARS, WEIGHTS, and PENDULUM would have conjured thoughts of rain outside, sudden sunlight, or a shifting day.
At the core rested GRANDFATHERCLOCK as a meeting of the practical with the eternal. The clock is a poignant reminder that as weather shifts and hours tick away, time stands still, silent in aligning things. Like the days, the puzzle is brief and eternal, softly inviting one to stop, watch, and remember.
