Hints and Solutions for Strands – January 15, 2025
If you’re seeking clues and solutions for today’s Strands puzzle themed “Thar she blows!”, this post has everything you need!
For quick access to our daily Strands tips, you can bookmark this link. This page also houses previous hints, allowing you to catch up on any puzzles you might have missed.
Below, you will find subtle hints related to today’s Strands solutions. Keep scrolling to uncover the spangram and full answers. Take your time and only grab the hints you feel are necessary!
Clue for Today’s Spangram
The phrase “Thar she blows!” is historically used at sea to indicate the sighting of a large marine creature known for its habit of spouting water when it breaches the surface. Today’s spangram is the name of that creature.
Clue for the Thematic Words
The words synonymous with specific species of the marine creature identified in the spangram.
Attention: Spoilers Ahead!
The answers for today’s Strands puzzle are about to be revealed.
What is the today’s spangram?
Today’s spangram is WHALES.
What are the themed words for today?
The themed words are: BELUGA, HUMPBACK, BALEEN, GRAY, SPERM, ORCA, BLUE, RIGHT.
Here’s a look at the completed puzzle board:
Strategies for Solving Today’s Strands
Today’s puzzle features an interesting theme. The phrase evoked curiosity, prompting a quick search. It turns out to be a maritime term for spotting a whale. Hence, the puzzle theme seems to revolve around whales.
Indeed, spotting WHALES in the center confirms the spangram. 
Directly beneath, ORCA can be found. 
GRAY appears to the left of ORCA.
SPERM is located in the lower left corner.
In the right section of ORCA, BLUE is positioned.
RIGHT occupies the bottom right area. (Admittedly, hearing about a right whale was new to me; I initially guessed “girth” for this space.)
BALEEN is situated in the upper right.
Just below, HUMPBACK rests above the spangram.
Lastly, BELUGA completes the grid.
Strands #318 “Thar she blows!”
How to Engage with Strands
Strands can be accessed via the New York Times website or through their NYT Games application.
When playing, you will encounter a board filled with letters along with a thematic clue phrase. Your objective is to uncover the hidden words that align with the puzzle’s theme.
A Blend of Crossword and Word Search
The key word to locate is the “spangram”, which clearly expresses the theme of the puzzle. For instance, in a theme discussing aging, the spangram might be FERMENTED. This term will stretch across the entire board, either horizontally or vertically, and highlights in yellow once discovered. Finding the spangram typically simplifies the task of solving the remaining words.
In Strands, words may appear in any direction, including diagonally, and each letter can only be utilized once. Only one correct solution exists for each puzzle. When any word is correctly identified (for example, KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it is highlighted in blue.
If the puzzle proves challenging, submitting any visible non-theme words (four letters or longer) grants access to a hint. Submitting three non-theme words activates the “Hint” button, highlighting all letters in one of the theme words. Successfully linking these highlighted letters in the correct sequence reveals a theme word. Using additional hints will show the letter order for existing words.
Winning Strands
Unlike games such as Connections or Wordle, Strands does not have a failure condition. Each guess provides either a correct word, hint credits, or a shake indicating an invalid or short entry. There’s no limit on guesses or time constraints.
Victory in Strands is achieved by utilizing every letter present on the board, which means identifying both the spangram and all associated theme words. Similar to other NYT games, once solved, a shareable card reveals your performance for the day: blue dots signal found theme words, a yellow dot indicates spangram identification, and a lightbulb 
denotes hinted words.
