Strands Puzzle Guide: Exploring Life’s Stages with Today’s Theme

Today marks the final day of writing the Strands guides for a couple of weeks, and it’s been a fun ride of puzzle-solving. This week’s puzzles have varied in difficulty, with some feeling too easy, but today’s is proving to be a bit trickier than usual—always a welcome challenge for those who enjoy a tougher grid. As always, it’s Friday, and it’s time to dive into the puzzle and enjoy the process!

Strands, the latest addition to the New York Times puzzle family, offers a fresh twist on classic word search games. Each day brings a new theme, and the goal is to uncover all the words on the grid that fit that theme. One of these words is a spangram—a special word that spans from one side of the board to the other and reveals even more about the day's theme.

Today’s Theme: The Time of Our Lives

The theme today revolves around different stages of life, so let’s take a moment to reflect on the various ages we pass through. The puzzle is all about thinking through these different life stages, which will help uncover the words hidden in the grid. Here are a couple of helpful hints to guide you through:

Hint #1: Think about the different ages we experience throughout life.

Hint #2: Consider that your parents belong to a different stage, and so do your kids.

To help you along, here are the first two letters of each word, including the spangram, to get you started. The challenge is on—enjoy solving and see how the puzzle connects with today’s theme!