NYT Strands: Hints and Answers for March 12, 2025

Strands is a daily word puzzle game introduced by The New York Times in March 2024. Each day, players face a 6×8 grid filled with letters and a theme to guide their word search. The goal is to find all the words linked to the theme. You must use each letter in the grid only once.

How to Play Strands

In Strands, you can form words by connecting letters.

• Horizontally

• Vertically

• Diagonally

Strands are different from regular word searches. In Strands, words can bend in any direction. This gives you more freedom to form words. Each puzzle provides a clue to the theme and indicates the total number of words to find.

A unique feature of Strands is the “spangram.” This is a word or phrase that reflects the puzzle’s theme. It stretches across two opposite edges of the grid. Remember, no words overlap, and each letter appears in exactly one word.

Hints and Strategies

If you get stuck, you can find non-theme words of four letters or more to earn hints. For every three such words you find, you reveal a hint. This hint highlights letters that form a theme word. This feature encourages exploration and rewards players for their linguistic creativity.

Today’s Puzzle: March 12, 2025

For today’s Strands puzzle (#374), the theme is “Bearing gifts.” This theme focuses on the unique skills or qualities people have. These traits help them succeed in different activities. These attributes can manifest in many forms, showcasing:

• Exceptional capabilities

• Aptitude

• Mastery in specific areas

These qualities often lead to remarkable achievements.

Spangram

The spangram for today’s puzzle is “PRODIGY.” In this theme, a prodigy is someone with great talent or skill, usually noticed early in life.

Theme Words

The theme words for today’s puzzle are:

• CHOPS

• FLAIR

• KNACK

• PROWESS

• SKILL

• STRENGTH

• TALENT

• Prodigy

These words match the theme. They show different types of natural or learned skills.