Today's NYT Strands is live for Tuesday, June 23, 2026 (Puzzle #842). 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: "A whole new world"
What It Really Means
This puzzle drops you into a sandbox universe where the core loop is building, crafting, and surviving. Every theme word is a fundamental element from one of the most iconic open-world games ever made.
Think About...
- Everything you can craft or collect in a blocky survival world
- Items that protect you, feed you, or help you build
- Mechanics that let you travel between dimensions
Spangram Clues
Orientation: Horizontal (diagonal across the grid)
Letter Count: 9 letters
Starting Zone: First letter of the fifth row, moving across and toward the upper right
Progressive Spangram Hints
Hint 1 (Gentle): This is the name of the world itself -- the entire sandbox where you mine, build, and survive.
Hint 2 (Warmer): It's a game title that became a cultural phenomenon, known for its blocky aesthetic and infinite procedural worlds.
Hint 3 (Almost There): First letter is M, last letter is T
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MINECRAFT
Word-by-Word Hints
Solve as many as you can before peeking. Each word includes escalating clues.
Word 1
Vague: What keeps your hunger bar full in the wilderness
Closer: You cook it, you eat it, you'll die without it
Letter Clue: Starts with F, 4 letters total
Answer
FOOD
Word 2
Vague: A doorway to another dimension
Closer: Frame it with obsidian and light it up to travel to the Nether
Letter Clue: Starts with P, 6 letters total
Answer
PORTAL
Word 3
Vague: The fundamental unit of everything in this world
Closer: Square-shaped, stackable, the basic building material of the entire game
Letter Clue: Starts with B, 5 letters total
Answer
BLOCK
Word 4
Vague: Something you hold in your hand to get things done
Closer: Pickaxe, shovel, axe -- any implement you craft and use
Letter Clue: Starts with T, 4 letters total
Answer
TOOL
Word 5
Vague: The act of creating structures from raw materials
Closer: Placing blocks to make a shelter, a castle, or anything you imagine
Letter Clue: Starts with B, 8 letters total
Answer
BUILDING
Word 6
Vague: What you wear to survive hostile mobs
Closer: Crafted from leather, iron, diamond, or netherite -- it protects you from damage
Letter Clue: Starts with A, 5 letters total
Answer
ARMOR
Word 7
Vague: Where you keep all the stuff you've collected
Closer: A chest, a barrel, or any container that holds your inventory overflow
Letter Clue: Starts with S, 7 letters total
Answer
STORAGE
Full Answers
Spangram: MINECRAFT
Theme Words:
- FOOD
- PORTAL
- BLOCK
- TOOL
- BUILDING
- ARMOR
- STORAGE
Puzzle Debrief
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Trickiest Word: PORTAL (The diagonal spangram path can make spotting the word PORTAL tricky if you haven't found the spangram yet, since it connects to the Nether theme rather than the more obvious surface-game concepts)
Our Take: Today's puzzle is a love letter to Minecraft fans -- every theme word maps directly to core game mechanics, making this one of the most accessible Strands puzzles in recent memory. The spangram does double duty as both the game title and the world itself, which is a neat bit of thematic economy. If you've ever punched a tree or fought a creeper, you'll breeze through this one.
