NYT Strands Puzzle Hints and Answers for September 13, 2025
If you’ve been keeping up with the New York Times’ latest puzzle craze, Strands , then you already know it’s a twisty little brain game that’s got people hooked. And today’s edition, for September 13, 2025, is no exception. Let’s walk through what makes it interesting, what the hints were, and how the answers came together.
First off, Strands isn’t your ordinary word search. It’s built around a grid of letters, and yes, you’re still connecting them to form words—but the fun is in the flexibility. Words can snake up, down, sideways, diagonally, and even change direction midstream, creating some pretty quirky patterns. Every single letter on the board is part of a solution, so there’s no filler. To keep it fresh, each puzzle has a theme, and tied to that is the “spangram”—a special phrase that sums up the theme and stretches all the way across the board, either horizontally or vertically.
Now, for today’s puzzle, the hint given was “Better than good.” Simple enough on the surface, but as most Strands players know, the clue is just the beginning of the challenge. The answers this time were all about describing exceptional things—words and phrases tied to the idea of greatness. The spangram for today turned out to be “They’re Great” —and yes, that phrase ran vertically through the grid.
Also Read:So, what about the other words? Today’s list included: Expectations, Plains, Aunts, Lakes, Minds, and Apes. At first glance, that’s a pretty odd mix, right? But here’s the trick—each one of those can be paired with the word “Great” to make a familiar phrase or concept. For example, Great Expectations is the classic Dickens novel, Great Plains refers to the vast region of North America, Great Aunts are the relatives we all know, and so on. Even Great Minds and Great Apes fit the pattern perfectly.
This puzzle was considered a tough one by many players, because even once the “Great” connection was figured out, it wasn’t easy to think of all the specific word pairings on the spot. It’s one of those Strands challenges where you know the theme, but your brain keeps circling around too many possibilities, making the exact solutions tricky to pin down.
As with Wordle and Connections, part of the appeal here is the mix of logic, vocabulary, and those little “aha!” moments when the theme finally clicks. And since Strands is still in beta, it’s being tested to see how much of a daily habit it can become for puzzle lovers. Based on how many people are already talking about it online, especially when a hard puzzle like today’s drops, it seems to be catching on fast.
So, if today’s grid gave you trouble, don’t worry—you weren’t alone. The spangram They’re Great really did tie it all together, but only after some serious brain flexing. Tomorrow will bring a new theme, a new spangram, and a fresh chance to test your puzzle-solving skills. Until then, keep those mental gears turning!
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