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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The Saturday, August 16, 2025, NYT Strands theme is “Think on it!” If you want a nudge before seeing the solution, try the extra clue below; the complete answer list and spangram are farther down.
NYT Strands hint for August 16
Theme clue: “Think on it!”
Extra nudge: Get that grey matter working.
Opening letters
For a more specific hint without revealing the words, the reported answers begin with these letter pairs, in the article’s ordering: LE, AN, LO, LA, OR, NU, RE.
How Strands hints work
Strands is a daily word-search-style puzzle in the NYT website and NYT Games app. In the contemporaneous account from Forbes, the board has six rows and eight columns. Words are formed by linking adjacent letters horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and a word’s path can change direction. Theme answers turn blue; the spangram turns yellow. Finding three valid non-theme words of at least four letters unlocks an in-game hint that highlights the letters of a theme answer. These mechanics are described in that report, rather than verified here against the official game page.
Spoilers: August 16 Strands answers
Stop here if you want to solve the puzzle first.
Spangram
LEFT BRAIN
Theme words
- ANALYSIS
- LOGIC
- LANGUAGE
- ORDER
- NUMBERS
- REASON
The spangram and six theme words make seven entries in the grid. The answer set is also reported by TechRadar as the Saturday puzzle from the preceding day’s game.
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