The title refers to the Thursday, January 9, 2025 puzzle, which TechRadar identifies as game #312. The available answer lists conflict: TechRadar reports a tuna-family theme, while Puzzlesbay’s January archive lists musical notes. Because those sets cannot both be correct, neither can be presented here as the confirmed solution.
Which January 9 puzzle is this?
It is the January 9, 2025 edition: January 9 fell on a Thursday that year, and TechRadar labels the puzzle game #312. The year matters because January 9 recurs annually; January 9, 2026 was a Friday and is a different date-specific puzzle.
Why the reported answers do not match
TechRadar’s dated January 9, 2025 page gives the theme “Off the hook!” and lists BIGEYE, BLUEFIN, SKIPJACK, ALBACORE and YELLOWFIN, with TUNA FAMILY as the spangram. It also reports clue words LOAF, FINE, SCAM, CORK, SKIP and PICK, and says the spangram clue is “Chicken of the sea.” Its reported path touches the left edge on row 4 and the right edge on row 3. See TechRadar’s dated answer page.
By contrast, Puzzlesbay’s January 2025 archive assigns January 9 the theme “In the key of…” and lists A, B, C, D, E, F and G, with MUSICALNOTES as the spangram. See the Puzzlesbay archive. These are materially different themes and answer sets, not alternate spellings or minor variations.
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Not on the available evidence. The dated TechRadar report and the Puzzlesbay archive disagree, and the sources available here do not establish which entry is wrong. A definitive answer requires checking the original NYT puzzle or another reliable contemporaneous source. Until then, printing either list as confirmed risks giving readers the wrong solution.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How Strands works
Strands is a New York Times daily themed word-search game. Its board is a six-by-eight grid; words can bend in any direction, and players receive a theme clue and the number of words to find. Finding three unrelated words earns an in-game hint that highlights a theme word. A spangram describes the theme and spans two opposite edges of the grid. This general description explains the game, but it does not resolve which reported January 9 answer set is correct. General game description.
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