Honestly, the New York Times editors have a bit of a mean streak. For Sunday, January 18, 2026, the Strands hint is "Soft skills." If you’re like me, you probably spent five minutes looking for words like empathy, leadership, or patience.
You won't find them.
The clue is a massive pun. It’s not about your LinkedIn profile or how well you play with others in an office setting. It's about things that are literally soft to the touch. Think yarn, needles, and fabric. Once you realize we’re talking about hobbies that involve thread, the whole board starts to make a lot more sense.
The Breakthrough: Finding the Today Strands Hint
The trick to today's puzzle is ignoring the "skills" part of the hint and focusing entirely on the word "soft." Most people get stuck because they’re thinking too abstractly. This isn't a corporate retreat. It's a craft room.
I started in the top-right corner. There's a QU sitting there, which almost always suggests a Q followed by a U. If you follow the letters nearby, you’ll quickly find QUILT.
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That’s your anchor.
Once you have QUILT, the theme becomes obvious. You aren't looking for personality traits; you are looking for ways to manipulate fabric and thread. This is a classic NYT move—using a common phrase to describe something totally literal.
Breaking Down the Word List
If you’re still struggling to connect the dots, here is what you are actually looking for. Don't worry, the spelling on some of these is a bit tricky given the zig-zag nature of the grid.
- QUILT: As mentioned, top right.
- KNIT: Tucked away near the middle right.
- WEAVE: This one runs horizontally above the bottom section.
- EMBROIDER: A long one! It basically eats up the entire bottom row of the board.
- CROCHET: Look near the top right, spilling down from where you found the quilt.
- APPLIQUE: This is the "killer" word for many. If you aren't into sewing, you might not even know it's a word. It involves sewing one piece of fabric onto another. It’s located on the right side of the board.
The spangram—the word that touches both sides of the grid and sums everything up—is TEXTILEART.
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It’s a vertical beast today. It starts with a T on the far-left row (about three rows down) and snakes its way across and down to the bottom right. Seeing "Textile Art" makes the "Soft skills" pun finally click. These are skills... used on soft things.
Classic.
Tips for When You’re Genuinely Stuck
If you’ve found a couple of words but can’t see the rest, stop looking for the theme words. Seriously.
Just hunt for any four-letter word. Find TEXT, VEIL, or QUAIL. They won't turn blue because they aren't part of the theme, but every three "normal" words you find gives you a hint. The game will literally highlight the letters of a theme word for you.
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There is no penalty for using hints in Strands. Your streak doesn't end. You don't lose points. Sometimes, especially with words like APPLIQUE, you just need the game to give you a nudge so you can move on with your Sunday.
Why Today’s Puzzle is a Bit Diabolical
The difficulty today comes from the length of the words. EMBROIDER and TEXTILEART are long. In a grid this tight, long words have to twist and turn like a snake in a basket.
If you’re staring at a bunch of letters that don't seem to make sense, try tracing the path of the X. There aren't many words that use X, so it’s a dead giveaway for the spangram.
Actionable Steps for Success
- Ignore the corporate meaning: "Soft skills" means fabric. Period.
- Find the Q: It’s the easiest way to get QUILT and open up the top of the board.
- Trace the X: It belongs to TEXTILEART. Once you find that yellow line, the board is split in two, making the remaining words much easier to isolate.
- Watch for APPLIQUE: If you have a weird cluster of letters on the right side that don't look like English, it's probably this.
Go get that perfect board. You’ve got this.