Honestly, some mornings you just want to drink your coffee and find a few words without feeling like you're dismantling a bomb. April 16 was one of those days where the New York Times decided to test our spatial reasoning skills a bit more than usual. If you were scratching your head over the grid today, you aren't alone. The puzzle—technically game #44 for those keeping track—offered a theme that felt mundane but proved surprisingly tricky due to some unique board mechanics.
The Strands "On the Grid" Mystery
The clue for the day was "On the grid." When you see that, your mind might jump to Formula 1 racing or maybe a crossword layout. But in the context of the NYT Strands, it’s much more literal. Think about what keeps your house running. Think about the bills that show up in your inbox every month that you probably hate paying.
We are talking about the basic infrastructure of modern life.
A lot of players got stuck because they were looking for technical jargon. In reality, the answers were the things we take for granted until they stop working. It’s also worth noting that this specific puzzle was a bit of a milestone for the Strands community because it featured a word that "crossed" itself in a winding path, something that made a lot of veteran Boggle players double-check the rulebook.
Hints for April 16
If you don't want the full list of answers just yet, here are some nudges to get your brain moving in the right direction.
First, look for the Spangram. This is the word that spans the entire board and describes the overall theme. It starts on the right side and snakes its way across to the left.
- The Spangram hint: It’s a collective noun for things like water, gas, and electricity.
- The starting letter: It begins with a U.
- Word 1: Think about what you’re using to read this article right now.
- Word 2: It’s what comes out of your tap.
- Word 3: Something you use to talk to your grandma (no, not just an app).
Why This Puzzle Stumped So Many People
Most people struggled today because of the word ELECTRIC.
In most word games, "Electric" is an adjective. You have an electric car or an electric guitar. But in the world of the "grid," it functions as a noun. People kept trying to find "Electricity," but there weren't enough letters for it.
There was also the CABLE and TELEPHONE factor. With everyone switching to fiber-optic and 5G, "Telephone" feels like a word from a different era, doesn't it? Yet, in the infrastructure of a city, these are the core components that make up the puzzle.
The Full Answer List
If you've run out of patience and just want to save your streak, here is the solution for the April 16 Strands:
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- SPANGRAM: UTILITIES (Snaking from the right to the left)
- CABLE
- ELECTRIC
- WATER
- TELEPHONE
- HEAT
- INTERNET
Strategies for Future Strands Puzzles
You’ve probably noticed that the corners are the best place to start. In the April 16 board, if you looked at the corners, you could see the "H" and "E" for HEAT or the "W" for WATER pretty quickly.
Another tip? Don't be afraid of "garbage" words. If you find a word that isn't part of the theme—like "SATE" or "TASTE"—it still helps you. Every three non-theme words you find earns you a hint.
The most important thing to remember about Strands is that every single letter on the board must be used. If you have a stray "Q" or "Z" left over, you haven't finished the puzzle.
If you are trying to improve your solve time, try to find the Spangram first. It literally bisects the board, which narrows down where the other words can possibly be. It turns one giant, intimidating 48-letter mess into two smaller, manageable sections.
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To master the next one, try scanning the board for rare letters like K, J, or X first, as they usually have only one or two possible paths. Once you lock those in, the rest of the grid usually falls into place like a series of dominoes. Look for common suffixes too; "ING" and "TION" are frequent guests in the NYT puzzles and can help you map out a word's tail before you even find its head.