Games Like NYT Strands: 7 Word Search and Theme Puzzles

Strands is a word search with a brain. Every letter belongs to exactly one answer, the theme clue is deliberately vague, and the spangram stretches across the whole board once you finally see it. It is calmer than Wordle and less stressful than Connections, which is why so many people play it last.

These are the games that share at least one of its best ideas: tracing words through a grid, or working out a hidden theme.

Letter grids you trace through

Squaredle

Squaredle gives you a square grid of letters and asks you to find every word by connecting adjacent letters, diagonals included. There is no theme, but there are a lot of words, and the daily puzzle has a set list to complete. It is the closest thing to Strands’ tracing mechanic, minus the theme.

NYT Spelling Bee

Not a grid, but the same pleasure of pulling words out of a fixed set of letters. You get seven letters and must use the center one in every word. A good Strands solver who likes hunting for the long word will love finding the pangram. Our Spelling Bee hints give the grid and the word counts.

Blossom

Merriam-Webster’s take on the honeycomb format: one center letter and six petals, but only twelve submissions. Choosing which long words to play matters more than finding many. Blossom hints.

Theme puzzles

NYT Connections

If the best part of Strands is the moment the theme clicks, Connections gives you four of those moments a day. Sixteen words, four hidden categories. Connections hints.

Contexto

Contexto is a theme puzzle with no grid. You guess words and each one is ranked by how close it is in meaning to the secret word. Strands players who solve from the theme down tend to be good at it. Contexto hints.

Building words around constraints

NYT Letter Boxed

Twelve letters on the sides of a square. You chain words together, each starting with the last letter of the one before, until every letter is used. Like Strands, it rewards stepping back and seeing the whole board. Letter Boxed answers show the shortest solution we found.

Waffle

Six five-letter words in a waffle-shaped grid, with every letter on the board but scrambled. You fix it by swapping letters. It is the most “grid” puzzle on this list. Waffle solution.

Getting unstuck in Strands

The theme clue is a pun more often than a description, so if a theme makes no sense, read it out loud. Look for unusual letters like Q, Z or J first, because they narrow the paths through the grid. And find the spangram early: it runs between two opposite sides of the board, so once it is placed the remaining letters usually fall into smaller, easier regions. When that fails, our Strands hints reveal the theme words one step at a time.

Word Game Clues is an independent hint site and is not affiliated with The New York Times or any of the game publishers mentioned here.