Strandsis a daily word-search game that can be pretty tough. Every day, it presents fans with a 6x8 grid filled with seemingly-random letters and one little clue. to solve it, you need to find eight different words inside of the grid without knowing what they are.
Today’s puzzle is one of the hardest puzzles the New York Times Games has ever come up with; it’s way harder than how therules of how to playStrandsmake it sound. The words and theme in this one are super difficult, and many players will be out searching for a helping hand. That’s what this article is here to provide.
The NYT Games Strands Puzzle #174 June 16, 2025
TheStrandspuzzle for today has the clueCan You Top That?It has eight items to find: one Spangram and seven themed words.
New York Times Games Strands Clues
The three sections below contain some general hints to thispuzzle game likeWordle. Each one has one little hint toward the theme that doesn’t contain any of the words that actually appear in the puzzle’s answers.
General Hint 1
Hint 1: What can you top with something else and eat?
Hint 3: A crunchy food snack usually paired with cheese.
Spoilers for Two of the Words in Today’s Strands
Spoilers for thismobile puzzle gameare in the two sections below. Each contains just one spoiled word and a screenshot of where it goes in the puzzle’s letter grid. Click the Read More button under one or both of them to uncover the clues.
Word 2: Hardtack
The Answer to Today’s New York Times Games Strands
The answer to today’sStrandspuzzle is in the expandable section below. If you press the Read More button below it, it will uncover the full answer with all the themed words a screenshot of a finished puzzle.
The category for today isCrackers. The words are Saltine, Matzo, Wafer, Oyster, Soda, Hardtack, and Crisp.
Today’s Strands Explained
Don’t understand what’s up with thisfree browser game? The expandable section below contains an explanation for how the theme, the words, and the clue all fit together to make sense.
Can you top that?refers to how you usually putCrackerson the bottom and top them with something, rather than eating them solo. Each of the themed words is a type of cracker.
Want to play? Check out theNew York Times Games Strandswebsite, available on almost any device with a browser.
