Sunday, January 25 (The Straight And Narrow)

We’re finally getting some snow after what’s been mostly a pretty balmy January. Other parts of the country are getting absolutely pounded, of course, while here in the desert mountains it’s more of a gentle — and rather wet — dusting. A good excuse to stay inside and watch TV. Or stay inside and uncover words in today’s NYT Strands puzzle!

Looking for Saturday’s Strands? Check out our guide right here.

How To Play Strands

Strands is the newest game in the New York Times’ stable of puzzle games. It’s a fun twist on classic word search games. Every day we’re given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board. One of these words is the spangram which crosses from one side of the grid to another and reveals even more about the day’s theme.

Spoilers ahead.

Today’s Strands Hints

Read on for today’s theme and some hints to help you uncover today’s words.

Today’s Theme: The straight and narrow

Hint: Think of words like “staff” or “pipe” and so forth.

The first two letters of each word:

Remember, spoilers ahead!

What Are Today’s Strands Answers?

Today’s spangram is: STICKY SITUATION

Here’s the full list of words:

• DOWEL
• PICKET
• STAKE
• BATON
• POLE
• POST
• CANE

Here’s the completed Strands grid:

Today’s Strands Breakdown

I found STICK and STICKY early on but neither worked, which surprised me (for STICK, in any case) because POST and BATON and the like were all clearly very similar to STICK. I suspected it was part of the spangram, but didn’t get the full thing until I’d found every other word. A nice, moderately challenging Strands overall.

How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook.

Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!