Here are the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle #686 today, released on January 18th, 2026, and some hints to help you solve them.
The New York Times are known for the wide range of games they publish for readers to complete on the daily. They had also published the viral word game, Wordle, in 2022, to add to their collection.
A new game has been released by the paper, called Strands, which is currently in beta. In this game, there is a theme of words on a board and you need to find the theme related words.
Once you have found a theme related word, it will stay filled in blue and to create these words, you will need to drag or type the letters. All of the letters on the board are used to make up words for the theme and the letters do not overlap into other words.
There is also a “spangram” which is a word on the board that describes the theme of the puzzle for the day. It will touch two opposite sides of the board and may be two words.
Once you have found the spangram word, it will stay highlighted in yellow.
An example of a spangram is FRUIT, and the other themed words would be PEAR, BANANA and APPLE.
If you are struggling to find any words relating to the theme, you can try and find other words on the board, which will not stay highlighted, but will help you to get hints. You will need to find three non-theme words to get a hint.
Strands 686 Hints Today (January 18th, 2026)
Today’s theme or hint for the puzzle is, “SOFT SKILLS” and there are seven theme words to be found.
More hints to help you solve the Strands puzzle released today is:
- Two words in the Spangram today.
- There are seven and three letters in the Spangram word today.
Strands 686 Spangram Answer Today (January 18th, 2026)
With every puzzle, there is a spangram, which helps describe the theme. The spangram for the puzzle released on January 18th is:
TEXTILE ART
The word starts on the left and ends on the right side of the grid.
The exact location of the Spangram word can be seen below:
Strands 686 Solution Today (1/18/2026)
Here are all of the other themed words for the Stands 686 puzzle:
- QUILT
- CROCHET
- APPLIQUE
- WEAVE
- KNIT
- EMBROIDERED
Let us know in the comments below which words you got stuck on.
Click here for the hints and answers to Strands 687!
