Honestly, some mornings you just want to find your words, get that yellow highlight, and move on with your life. But today's NYT Strands hints August 13 might have you staring at your phone screen a little longer than usual. It's one of those grids where you see the letters, you know the words are there, but your brain just refuses to connect the dots.
The New York Times has a knack for this. They take a concept that seems simple—basically a glorified word search—and turn it into a linguistic obstacle course. If you're stuck on the August 13 puzzle, don't feel bad. Everyone hits a wall eventually, especially when the theme is a bit more abstract than "breakfast foods" or "parts of a car."
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What’s the Vibe Today?
Today’s theme is officially Look it up! When you first see that, you might think of Google or maybe some obscure slang. But think older. Think physical. Think about those heavy books that used to sit on the bottom shelf of your school library. We're talking about the backbone of human knowledge before the internet decided to put everything in our pockets.
The spangram for today is REFERENCE.
It’s a vertical one. It cuts right through the heart of the board, touching the top and bottom edges. Once you find that, the rest of the pieces start falling into place like a game of Tetris. It’s that "aha!" moment that makes Strands so addictive, even when it’s frustrating.
The Words You're Looking For
If you’re just looking for a nudge without the full spoilers, think about different types of books you’d use to find a specific fact. One might tell you where a country is. Another might give you a synonym for "annoying" because you've used that word three times in one paragraph.
Here is the full word list for the August 13 puzzle:
- DICTIONARY
- THESAURUS
- ALMANAC
- HANDBOOK
- ATLAS
- REFERENCE (The Spangram)
Did you find ATLAS yet? It's usually the easiest one to spot because it's short, but in this grid, it’s tucked away in a corner that feels a bit counter-intuitive. THESAURUS is the real beast here. It’s a long word with a lot of "S" and "U" action that can easily get confused with random filler letters.
Why This Puzzle Actually Matters
It’s easy to dismiss these games as just a way to kill five minutes while waiting for the coffee to brew. But researchers like Dr. Thomas Wisniewski from the NYU Langone Center for Cognitive Neurology have often pointed out that these types of lexical challenges are great for "cognitive reserve." Basically, you're building up a mental rainy-day fund.
By forcing your brain to recognize patterns in a non-linear way—remember, Strands lets you go diagonal and switch directions mid-word—you're working out your executive function. It’s not just about knowing the word ALMANAC; it’s about your brain's ability to filter out the noise of the "K," "Z," and "X" letters surrounding it.
Strategy for Tomorrow (and Beyond)
If today's NYT Strands hints August 13 didn't save you fast enough, here’s how to approach the next one. Start by looking for "high-value" letters. If you see a "Q," "Z," or "X," there are only so many words those can belong to.
Also, don't be afraid to spam "hint words." You need three non-theme words of four letters or more to get a hint. Sometimes it’s worth just clearing out the junk words you see—like "TAME" or "ROUT"—just to get the game to highlight a theme word for you. There's no penalty for using hints, so don't let your pride keep you stuck on a Tuesday morning.
The "spangram" is your best friend. It always describes the theme and always touches two opposite sides of the board. If you can find that first, the remaining letters become much easier to group together because the board gets smaller and less overwhelming.
Now that you've cleared the August 13 board, you can get back to your day. Or, you know, go play Connections and get even more frustrated.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Open the Strands grid and look for the "R" at the bottom to start tracing REFERENCE vertically.
- If you're still stuck on the last few letters, look for THESAURUS along the edges; it's the longest non-spangram word.
- Check out the NYT Spelling Bee for a different kind of word-finding challenge to keep the momentum going.