You can play Strands in the Games app, at nytimes.com/games/strands, and in the Play tab of the News app.

Daily Strands puzzles are released at midnight in your timezone.

Your Strands progress and statistics will automatically link to your New York Times account. Confirm you are logged into your New York Times account or signed in with an existing New York Times account to save your statistics. 

Your Statistics page displays key statistics (Completed, Solve %, Current Streak, Max Streak, Spangram First, and Solved Without Hints) based on the puzzles you have played from July 8th, 2025, and onwards. 

You’ll find your stats on the same page where you share your results after completing a puzzle. You can also view your stats during a game by selecting the bar graph icon at the top right of the page.

Your Statistics page contains:

• Completed: The total number of Strands puzzles solved.
• Solve %: the percentage of total puzzles played that you have completed. Any puzzles that have been started but not finished do not count as solved and will be counted as unsolved. Unsolved puzzles lower Solve %.
• Current Streak: The number of consecutive days you have completed that day’s puzzle.
• Max Streak: The highest number of consecutive days you have completed that day’s puzzle.
• Spangram First: Puzzles completed where the spangram was the first word found. The spangram is the special word that encompasses the puzzle’s theme. It highlights in yellow when found.
• Solved Without Hints: Puzzles completed without the use of a hint.

Note: If you finish a puzzle after midnight local time, your streak will be broken and a new streak will begin. 

If you are having trouble with your Strands stats, such as incorrect stats or losing your streak, confirm you are logged into your New York Times account. If you are logged into the correct account and you continue to see incorrect Strands stats, navigate to the settings icon and select Report a Bug.

Selecting Report a Bug will open an email, allowing you to explain the issue, and send it to the appropriate team for a prompt resolution of your Strands stats issue.

Strands archive allows All Access, Home Delivery, and Games Subscribers to play the full archive of Strands puzzles from as far back as March 4th, 2024!  

There are a few things to note about Strands archive:

• Playing Strands puzzles in the archive will affect your Strands Stats (Completed, Solve%, Spangram First, and Solved Without Hints).
• Playing Strands puzzles in the archive will not affect your streaks – both Current streaks and Max streaks. Streaks are only counted based on the puzzle you play on the day of release.
• Completed Strands puzzles cannot be replayed.

Subscribers can access the Strands archive:

• On a web browser at nytimes.com/crosswords in the navigation menu on the left-hand side.
• In the Strands Archive section in the Games app.
• The archive is not available in the Play tab of the News app.

Puzzle progress:

• A box with one blue dot - The puzzle has been started.
• Additional dots - The more dots, the more theme words have been found.
• A blue star - The puzzle has been completed.

Strands Sidekick is a community forum page where you can receive puzzle support when trying to solve the daily Strands puzzle. The forum is available to everyone to read hints, leave comments, and view the difficulty score. 

Comments may contain spoilers - Players are encouraged to complete their Strands game first or scroll at their own risk. 

Strands Sidekick can only be found on the Gameplay page and is not available through the Games or News app.