Honestly, some mornings you just wake up, open the New York Times Games app, and immediately want to close it again. Today might be one of those days for you. If you're staring at the grid for the NYT Strands hints January 21 puzzle and seeing absolutely nothing but a soup of letters, don't worry. You're definitely not alone. It’s one of those "aha!" puzzles that feels impossible until the exact moment it doesn't.
Strands is weird. It’s not quite a word search, and it’s not quite a crossword. It's basically a winding path where every single letter has to be used, and if you miss the "Spangram," you're basically flying blind.
The Vibe of the January 21 Puzzle
Today's theme is a bit of a throwback. If you aren't a fan of linguistic history or how people used to talk in the hallways of high schools thirty years ago, you might struggle. The official hint provided by the NYT is "You don't say," which, let's be real, is almost zero help. It’s cryptic. It's vague. It’s classic Tracy Bennett.
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Think back. Way back. We’re talking about words that used to be the height of "cool" but now mostly live in the scripts of 90s sitcoms or on the tongues of parents trying way too hard to connect with their kids.
Need a nudge?
If you just want a small push without the full spoiler, focus on the corners. There is a "P" hanging out that looks very lonely. What words start with "P" and mean "excellent" in a very 1990s sort of way?
NYT Strands Hints January 21: Breaking Down the Board
Getting stuck is part of the process. If you've found three random words like "GATE" or "TIME" that aren't part of the theme, you've probably already noticed the hint button filling up. But before you burn those hard-earned hints, let’s look at the "Spangram."
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The Spangram is the golden word. It spans the entire board from one side to the other. For the NYT Strands hints January 21 challenge, the Spangram is DATEDSLANG.
Yeah, it’s a long one. It’s eleven letters, and it basically wraps around the board like a snake. Once you find that, the rest of the words start to make a lot more sense. You’re looking for "retro" cool.
The Word List for Today
Here is what you are actually looking for in that mess of letters:
- PHAT (This one usually trips people up because of the spelling.)
- BOSS (Simple, but easy to overlook when you're looking for longer words.)
- CHERRY (As in "that car is cherry.")
- TUBULAR (Total surfer vibes here.)
- FRESH (Straight out of a Prince of Bel-Air episode.)
- MAJOR (Like, majorly cool, totally.)
- RADICAL (The quintessential 80s/90s adjective.)
Why This Puzzle Is Harder Than Usual
The difficulty today comes from the fact that these words aren't really in our "active" vocabulary anymore. When was the last time you actually called something "tubular" without being ironic? Probably never.
The letter "H" in PHAT is positioned in a way that feels unnatural if you're just scanning for standard English. Also, DATEDSLANG as a single continuous string is a beast to visualize. Most people find the smaller words like BOSS or FRESH first, which is actually a solid strategy.
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Strands isn't just about finding words; it's about spatial reasoning. Every letter belongs somewhere. If you have a stray "Q" or "Z" (not in today's, but generally), you know exactly where to focus. Today, the "J" in MAJOR is your anchor. Find the "J," and you'll find the word.
Strategies for Future Strands
- Corners first. Seriously. Letters in the corner have fewer neighbors, making them easier to "solve" than letters in the middle.
- Look for suffixes. If you see "ING," "ED," or "TION," trace them backward.
- The "Strands Sidekick" trick. If you’re really dying, find any three-letter words to build up your hint bank. Even if they aren't theme words, they count toward your "hint currency."
Real Talk on the Gaming Meta
The NYT has been leaning heavily into these "nostalgia" themes lately. It’s a smart move for their demographic, but it can be alienating if you aren't in that specific age bracket. The "Dated Slang" theme specifically targets Gen X and Xennials. If you're Gen Z, "PHAT" probably looks like a typo.
If you finished today's puzzle in under five minutes, you either lived through the 90s or you’ve watched a lot of Saved by the Bell. For the rest of us, it was a bit of a slog.
Actionable Steps for Tomorrow's Puzzle
- Don't rush the Spangram. Sometimes finding the blue words first gives you the "negative space" needed to see the yellow word.
- Say the theme out loud. "You don't say" sounds like a reaction, which is why your brain might look for words like "REALLY" or "NEVER." Today proved that the theme name is often a pun or a very loose association.
- Take a break. If the letters are blurring together, walk away for ten minutes. Your brain continues to process the patterns in the background. It's basically science.
Keep your streak alive. Tomorrow's puzzle will likely be something entirely different—maybe something about types of cheese or famous architects. That's the beauty of this game; you never know what kind of trivia is going to be required to clear the board.