If you're staring at the NYT Strands grid on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, and feeling a bit stumped, you've come to the right place. Today's puzzle, themed 'Gift of the Month,' centers around a specific type of precious item. We'll guide you through with hints, clues, and ultimately, the full solution so you can conquer the board.
The goal of Strands, much like its NYT Games siblings, is to uncover hidden words that fit a particular theme. The key is the 'spangram,' a word that essentially defines the theme itself and stretches across the entire board. Finding this yellow-highlighted word often illuminates the path to solving the rest of the puzzle.
Today's NYT Strands Hints
Before we dive into the answers, let's try to get you there with a couple of nudges. Think about what you might receive or give as a special present, often associated with a particular month of the year. The theme words are all specific examples of these items.
Consider what adorns fingers, necks, and ears, often chosen for their beauty and symbolic meaning. Some are known for their hardness, others for their unique play of color. These are not just pretty objects; they hold cultural significance and are often passed down through generations.
Hint for the Spangram
What you might wear to subtly indicate when you were born. It's a word that ties directly to the concept of monthly gifts and personal significance.
Hint for the Theme Words
Specific gems. Think of precious stones, each with its own unique color, history, and often, a designated birth month.
Spoilers Ahead: The Answer to Today's NYT Strands
Ready to see the solution? If you've scrolled past the hints and are now looking for the definitive answer to today's NYT Strands puzzle, here it is.
The Spangram
The word that spans the entire board, revealing the theme, is BIRTHSTONE.
The Theme Words
The seven words you'll find related to the 'Gift of the Month' theme are:
- TOPAZ
- OPAL
- TURQUOISE
- DIAMOND
- GARNET
- PERIDOT
These are all well-known gemstones, each often associated with a specific month. For instance, January's birthstone is Garnet, known for its deep red hue, while April is famously associated with the sparkling Diamond (Harvard, 2024).
How the Puzzle Looks Solved
When you've successfully found all the words, the Strands board will look something like this, with the spangram highlighted in yellow and the theme words in blue:
Credit: Strands/NYT
Navigating the NYT Strands Game
For those new to the game, NYT Strands is available on the New York Times website and within the NYT Games app. Each day presents a new puzzle with a thematic clue.
The game blends elements of a crossword with a word search. You're presented with a grid of letters and a theme hint. Your task is to find words that fit this theme. The spangram, as mentioned, is the most crucial word, running either horizontally or vertically and clearly defining the puzzle's subject. Once found, it's highlighted in yellow.
Words can snake in any direction--up, down, left, right, or diagonally--and each letter can only be used once per word. Correctly identified theme words turn blue.
Struggling? You can submit any valid word of four letters or more that isn't part of the theme. Accumulating three such submissions will make the 'Hint' button active. Clicking it will reveal the letters of one of the theme words, though you'll still need to connect them in the correct sequence.
Winning in Strands
Unlike some other word games, Strands doesn't have a failure state. You can't run out of guesses or be timed. The game simply confirms correct words, offers hints, or shakes the screen for invalid entries.
Victory is achieved when all letters on the board have been used by correctly identifying the spangram and all the associated theme words. A shareable card at the end summarizes your success, using blue dots for found theme words, a yellow dot for the spangram, and a lightbulb icon for any words uncovered via hints.
Not the puzzle you were looking for? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.
