NYT Strands January 17 2026 Answers
Puzzle #685
EDITED BY TRACY BENNETTConstructed by Sam Corbin
Today's theme
“That's putting it mildly!”
The board
Hints (no spoilers)
The spangram has 11 letters and starts with F
There are 5 theme words besides the spangram
SPANGRAM
FOILEDAGAIN
THEME WORDS
CURSESDRATFIDDLESTICKSPHOOEYTARNATION
Checked against the official NYT Strands solution
How Strands works
Strands is the NYT's daily word-search twist: find the theme words hidden in the 6×8 board — letters connect in any direction and every letter gets used exactly once. The spangram describes the theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. Play free at nytimes.com.