Today’s NYT Strands Hints and Answers on March 20, 2026

NYT Strands is a popular word-guessing game where you need to connect random letters in a grid to find the words related to that day’s theme. Today’s NYT Strands theme, “Spring fever”, highlights the various names for the winding shapes found in a coil or a spring. But if today’s grid has you feeling a bit too wound up, don’t worry. Here are the hints and answers for the Strands puzzle #747 on March 20, 2026.

NYT Strands Hints Today

Finding the words in a Strands puzzle can be quite tricky, and even if you know how to play NYT Strands, you may have trouble finding the last word to complete the game.

NYT Strands Theme Today

Today’s theme is:

Spring fever
Look for words related to:

Common shapes of a spring

While the hint for today’s theme should be enough to connect the dots and figure out the answer to the Strands game, we have included additional hints for your ease here:

Hint

If the hints above still didn’t help you discover the words for today’s Strands game, here are the first two letters of each word to help you out.

  • CO
  • GY
  • HE
  • SP
  • CU
  • CO
  • TW

Looking for more NYT puzzle games to play after Strands? Maybe try today’s Connections puzzle

NYT Strands Spangram Hint: Is It Vertical or Horizontal?

The Spangram hint for today’s Strands, March 20, 2026, is Vertical, and starts from the Bottom and goes to the Top. Here’s another hint for the Spangram: it begins with the letter“TW”.

Today’s Strands Spangram

Couldn’t figure out the puzzle answer even after looking at today’s strands hint shared above? No problem, we have the answers for you. The Spangram answer for March 20, 2026, Strands is:

1 ? T
2 ? W
3 ? I
4 ? S
5 ? T
6 ? A
7 ? N
8 ? D
9 ? T
10 ? U
11 ? R
12 ? N

You can click on the ? reveal letter by letter before uncovering the full solution.

Do you like word-guessing games? Then check out today’s Wordle and see if you can solve that one?

Spoiler Warning!

Scroll past this AT YOUR OWN RISK. The theme word answers for today’s Strands below.

NYT Strands Answer Today

Still looking for the theme words to complete today’s NYT Strands puzzle? Well, I won’t keep you waiting anymore. Here are the answers: 

  • COIL
  • GYRE
  • HELIX
  • SPIRAL
  • CURLICUE
  • CORKSCREW

You can also check out yesterday’s NYT Strands puzzle, whose theme was “Bring a plate”, which is talking about a community tradition of bringing different food items for everyone in the neighborhood. But if you need more help, then here’s the Spangram: ‘POTLUCK’ for yesterday’s Strands puzzle.

Difficulty Level for March 20 NYT Strands

As a veteran player of NYT Strands and based on my experience with the game, I would rank today’s game 3 out of 5. Here, 1 is the easiest, and 5 is the hardest.

NYT Strands Answers March 20, 2026

Today’s Strands puzzle has me spinning in spirals. That’s because the theme had me going on a wild goose chase, and it was only with the help of a few hints and a lot of thinking which led me to finally finish the entire grid, finishing the Spangram at the very last.

What is NYT Strands Spangram and How Does It Work?

Unlike your typical word-finding puzzle, Strands feature a unique twist called “Spangram”. This is a special word that runs across the entire grid, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. But that does not mean the first letter of Spangram starts at the edge of the grid. 

This is considered a key hint to solving the Strands puzzle, and that’s for a good reason. Figuring out the Spangram early not only offers another clue for today’s theme. It also splits up the grid, making some of the words in Strands easier to figure out. 

Tips and Tricks for Mastering NYT Strands Puzzles

If you want to master every day’s Strands puzzle, then here are some quick tips to become a pro at solving the game: 

  • Look up ‘Today’s Strand Hint’: One thing I always do before starting a puzzle is to look up the theme on Google. This helps me get a clear idea of the words I need to search for in the game. Sometimes, it can even help me find the words I am looking for. 
  • Pay close attention to corners: Another good strategy I practice is to check the corners, as they are easy to find words in and provide a starting point. 
  • Try to get Strands Hints: The puzzle can be quite tricky on some days, so rather than giving up, I suggest you try to connect random words to get hints. Please don’t be ashamed to get a clue, as even one could be the key to solving the entire puzzle. 
  • Go for the Spangram first: The Strand Spangram takes up the entire height or width of the puzzle grid, so solving it gives you another clue to find the rest of the words, and also divides the grid, which makes it easy to solve the puzzle.

That is it for today! We will meet again for another NYT Strands game tomorrow. In the meantime, you could check out some of the other New York Times puzzles. 

What is today’s Strands theme?

The theme for today’s Strands puzzle #747 for March 20, 2026, is – Spring fever

What are the NYT Strands hints and answers for March 20, 2026?

The Spangram answer for today’s Strands is TWISTANDTURN.

What was yesterday’s NYT Strands answer?

The answer to yesterday’s NYT Strands puzzle was POTLUCK.

How to play old NYT strands games?

Similar to Connections and Wordle, we now have a dedicated Strands archive page. So, you can subscribe to NYT Games and play old puzzles by selecting the desired date on the website.