Look, we've all been there. You open the New York Times Games app, see that grid of floating letters, and your brain just... freezes. It’s Friday, January 16, 2026, and today's NYT Strands answers are proving to be a bit of a headache for people who haven't had their coffee yet. This isn't Wordle where you have a structural safety net. This is a mess of characters that could be anything from 18th-century poets to different types of artisanal cheeses.
If you're stuck on today's theme, "Sticking points," don't feel bad. It’s a bit of a pun. The NYT editors love to play with double meanings, and today they’ve gone full "dad joke" on us.
What is the Theme for Today's Strands?
The official hint for the January 16 puzzle is "Sticking points." When you first see that, you might think about arguments or maybe obstacles. Honestly? That's what I thought. I spent three minutes looking for words like "Hitch" or "Snag." I was wrong. The game is being much more literal today. Think about things that actually stick to other things. Adhesive stuff.
It’s a classic Strands misdirection. They want you to think metaphorically, but the board is actually hiding physical objects. This is a common tactic used by the current lead puzzles editor, who has been leaning into tactile themes lately. If you can't find the Spangram yet, look for a word that describes the entire category of things that keep the world held together.
Hints to Get You Moving
If you don't want the full list of NYT Strands answers today just yet, I'll give you a few nudges.
First, look in the bottom right corner. There’s a four-letter word starting with T that we all used in elementary school. It’s clear, it’s sticky, and it usually ends up tangled in a ball when you try to wrap a present.
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Second, check the top left. There’s a word for that white liquid that comes in a bottle with an orange cap. It’s five letters long.
The Spangram—the word that touches both sides of the grid—is quite long today. It’s eleven letters. It starts with an A and ends with an S. If you find "Adhesives," you’ve basically cracked the code for the rest of the board.
The Full List of NYT Strands Answers for January 16
Sometimes you just want the answers so you can keep your streak alive and move on with your life. I get it. Here is exactly what is hidden in that grid today.
The Spangram is ADHESIVES. It runs horizontally across the middle, cutting the board in half. Once you highlight that in yellow, the rest of the clusters become way more obvious.
Here are the theme words:
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- TAPE: Located in the bottom right quadrant.
- GLUE: Tucked away near the top left.
- PASTE: You’ll find this one snaking around the left side.
- EPOXY: A bit more technical, look for the 'X'—it’s always a giveaway.
- CEMENT: Usually used for rubber or construction, but it's here.
- MUCILAGE: This is the "expert" word of the day. Most people haven't used this word since 1950, but it refers to that thick, gluey substance found in plants.
- RESIN: Found near the top right.
Why Today’s Puzzle is Tricky
The inclusion of "Mucilage" is what's going to trip most people up. It’s a high-level vocabulary word that doesn't pop up in daily conversation. If you were stuck with a bunch of letters like M, U, C, I, L, A, G, E, and felt like you were losing your mind, you aren't alone. It’s a deep cut.
The word EPOXY is also a clever inclusion. Because it has an 'X', players usually find it quickly, but if you don't know what epoxy is, you might disregard it as a random string of letters. In reality, it's a heavy-duty adhesive used in everything from flooring to jewelry making.
This puzzle relies on your ability to recognize different "strengths" of stickiness. From the weak office PASTE to the industrial-strength EPOXY, it covers the whole spectrum.
Strategies for Future Strands Puzzles
If you want to stop Googling the answers every morning, you've gotta change how you look at the board. Strands isn't just a word search; it's a spatial awareness test.
- Find the Spangram first. It’s the only word that must touch two opposite sides. It’s usually a plural or a compound word. If you find it, the board is effectively halved, making the remaining clusters much smaller and easier to digest.
- Look for the "Power Letters." Letters like X, Z, Q, and J are rarely part of filler words. If you see an X, it’s almost certainly part of a theme word. Today, that X led directly to EPOXY.
- Don't ignore the "junk" words. Finding non-theme words fills your hint bar. If you’re truly stuck, just start swiping common three-letter words like "CAT," "DOG," or "THE." Once that hint button glows, use it. It’ll highlight the letters of a theme word for you, which is usually enough to kickstart your brain.
- Say the theme hint out loud. Sometimes hearing "Sticking points" helps you realize the pun faster than just reading it.
How Strands Compares to Other NYT Games
Strands has quickly become a staple for NYT subscribers because it fills the gap between the logic of Sudoku and the trivia of the Crossword. Unlike Wordle, where you have six tries to guess one word, Strands gives you a finite set of letters that must be used. There is no waste. Every single letter on that grid belongs to a theme word or the Spangram.
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It's actually closer to "Connections" in terms of mental energy. You have to group ideas together. Today’s theme of adhesives is a perfect example of how the NYT likes to take a simple concept and find five or six synonyms or related items to hide in plain sight.
Actionable Next Steps for Puzzle Success
To get better at this, you need to broaden your "category" thinking.
Start by looking at the grid and identifying any suffixes or prefixes. If you see "ING" or "ED" clustered together, there's a 90% chance a verb is hiding there. If you see an "S" at the end of a long string, check if the Spangram is plural.
For tomorrow, try this: Spend the first sixty seconds just looking at the letters without touching the screen. Try to find the longest word possible. Often, the longest word is the Spangram, and once that’s out of the way, the rest of the puzzle collapses into place. If you're still struggling with today's NYT Strands answers, take a break and come back in an hour. Usually, your subconscious will keep working on the "Sticking points" while you're doing something else.
Check back tomorrow for the next breakdown of the grid. Every day is a new chance to beat the editors at their own game.