Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 951 on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026.
Today’s theme was kind of tough to figure out. But when I solved it, I realized the provided hint all but gives it away. Sometimes I wonder how the puzzle editor thought of this theme. Were they just sitting around waiting for some honey to squeeze out of the bottle and suddenly had a “Eureka!” moment? Either way, it’s a fun one.
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is “A slow drizzle.”
And here’s a hint: You might have these items in your pantry.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
SPUD, SHONE, HONE, HONES, TOYS, CLEAR, LEAR, REAR, TRAY, TRAM, TRAMS
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight, but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
HONEY, SYRUP, TREACLE, MOLASSES, GRENADINE
Today’s Strands spangram
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 10, 2026.NYT/Screenshot by CNET
Today’s Strands spangram is STICKYANDSWEET. To find it, start with the S that’s three letters down on the far-left column, and wind up and then right and down.
Let’s talk about today’s Strands puzzle
Once I figured out we were looking for slow-moving liquid foods, most of the answers were pretty easy to unscramble. But that last one, grenadine, stumped me. Of course, I know it’s a sweet, red, pomegranate-flavored syrup used as a sweetener and color splash in numerous drinks. I don’t own a bottle of the stuff, and don’t ever make a Shirley Temple these days. But once I spotted the word in the batch of letters, it was off to the races.
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.
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