Today's NYT Strands is live for Friday, May 8, 2026 (Puzzle #796). Stuck on today's Strands? We've got progressive hints, from gentle nudges to full solutions, so you can solve at your own pace.
How Strands Works (New Players Start Here)
Strands hides themed words inside a 6x8 letter grid. Your mission: find every word connected to the day's theme. Letters link in any direction (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) and words can twist and turn. Every letter gets used exactly once.
The spangram is the key word or phrase that captures the theme and stretches across the entire board, touching opposite edges.
Need a boost? Find any 4+ letter word (even non-theme words) three times, and the game reveals a hint highlighting theme word letters.
Theme Decoder
Today's Theme Prompt: "Garden variety"
What It Really Means
Don't head to the greenhouse. "Garden variety" is a phrase meaning ordinary, standard, or unexceptional. Every theme word in this puzzle is a synonym for "plain" or "commonplace."
Think About...
- Words that describe something unremarkable or average
- Synonyms for "standard" or "typical" you might use in everyday conversation
- Terms that contrast with "special," "unique," or "extraordinary"
Spangram Clues
Orientation: Horizontal (snaking across the grid)
Letter Count: 12 letters
Starting Zone: Second letter of the first row
Progressive Spangram Hints
Hint 1 (Gentle): This phrase describes something completely average, nothing out of the ordinary.
Hint 2 (Warmer): It's a compound idiom that combines a synonym for "standard" with a word for a type of produce.
Hint 3 (Almost There): First letter is R, last letter is L
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RUNOFTHEMILL
Word-by-Word Hints
Solve as many as you can before peeking. Each word includes escalating clues.
Word 1
Vague: The simplest, most straightforward way to say something isn't fancy.
Closer: Think entry-level, no-frills, stripped down to essentials.
Letter Clue: Starts with B, 5 letters total
Answer
BASIC
Word 2
Vague: A slightly more formal word for something unremarkable.
Closer: Imagine a person walking on foot rather than driving. That's this word in adjective form.
Letter Clue: Starts with P, 10 letters total
Answer
PEDESTRIAN
Word 3
Vague: Describes writing or speech that lacks imagination.
Closer: This word sounds like a cousin of "prose" and means matter-of-fact or dull.
Letter Clue: Starts with P, 7 letters total
Answer
PROSAIC
Word 4
Vague: The go-to word for something completely normal and unexceptional.
Closer: If it's not special, not weird, and not remarkable, it's this.
Letter Clue: Starts with O, 8 letters total
Answer
ORDINARY
Word 5
Vague: Something you see everywhere, all the time, nothing rare about it.
Closer: The opposite of "rare" or "unusual." Think widespread and frequent.
Letter Clue: Starts with C, 6 letters total
Answer
COMMON
Full Answers
Spangram: RUNOFTHEMILL
Theme Words:
- BASIC
- PEDESTRIAN
- PROSAIC
- ORDINARY
- COMMON
Puzzle Debrief
Difficulty Rating: Moderate
Trickiest Word: PROSAIC (Less common than the other synonyms, it might trip up solvers who don't immediately connect it to the "ordinary" theme.)
Our Take: A clever twist on wordplay -- the gardening theme is a red herring. The phrase "garden variety" points squarely at synonyms for "ordinary," and the spangram RUNOFTHEMILL ties it all together nicely. A satisfying puzzle that rewards vocabulary range over grid-scrambling.
