Today’s NYT Strands is all about getting moving—specifically, the things that tell you it’s time to wake up. The theme name practically points to the solution, but the board can still be tricky: a few answers are easy to miss if you’re only scanning for obvious “alarm” letters. If you remember the days of physical alarm clocks (and not just smartphone notifications), this one should feel especially satisfying.
Hints
Theme hint: Get up! If you’re thinking “what time is it?”, you’re on the right track.
Clue-word strategy: Strands will light up with theme words as you uncover enough of the right entries. Try collecting anything you can that looks like a time- or wake-related term, even if it feels slightly off at first. Every word you find that’s four letters or longer can nudge the puzzle toward revealing more.
In-game hint starters (use these as leads on the grid): GODS, MITE, LADS, TUNE, SPIT, SPIRE, RAID, NOTE, YACK, CLOCK, SOON. Even if you don’t place them immediately, they’re good “search targets” for letter patterns.
How the spangram is built: The overall connection is a single, elongated phrase that runs across the board. To locate it, start where the grid begins its long path: look for the D that sits two letters down on the far-left vertical row, then trace your way across in a continuous sequence.
Answers
Here are the full answers for today’s puzzle. The theme is Get up!, so everything revolves around timekeeping, reminders, and waking up.
Non-spangram answers: ALARM, TUNER, DATE, TIME, RADIO, SNOOZE, DISPLAY
Spangram: DIGITALCLOCK
If you solved this one, you probably got a real “rolling credits” feeling once the wake-up words started falling into place. A useful habit for Strands like this is to stop treating it like an anagram hunt and instead look for functional word shapes—especially ones that repeat across timekeeping devices. Once you commit to the “what tells you to get up?” angle, the board starts to organize itself.
And if you found yourself staring at the same cluster of letters for a while, you’re not alone: the sweet spot is often finding just one anchored word early (like ALARM or CLOCK) so your brain stops re-checking every adjacent possibility and starts following the actual intended paths.
For more puzzle-solving help, the daily Connections round can be a nice follow-up when you want another themed word hunt.
