NYT Strands hints, answers for January 20, 2026

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're a sneakerhead.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Sneak-ing around

The words are related to footwear.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe parts of a shoe.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Just for Kicks.

NYT Strands word list for January 20

• Just for Kicks

• Eyelet

• Shoelace

• Logo

• Vamp

• Tongue

• Sole

• Heel

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

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Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Strands.