Missed out on yesterday’s puzzle and now can’t find the solution? Or maybe you need help learning the ins and outs of this popular game. Well, no worries, we have got you covered with yesterday’s NYT Strands hints and answers for puzzle #685 for January 17, 2026.
Hints of Yesterday’s NYT Strands
NYT Strands is a word-finding game where the goal is to find the different words related to a single theme, which changes every day. You might have some trouble learning how to play Strands at first, but it gets easier the more you play it. So here is another hint for yesterday’s NYT Strands game:
If the above hint isn’t much of a help, here are some more clues to help you find yesterday’s words:
- TA
- PH
- CU
- TA
- FI
- FO
Yesterday’s NYT Strands Theme
Today’s theme is:
Old-School Outbursts
Looking for more NYT puzzle games to play after Strands? Maybe try today’s Connections puzzle
Yesterday’s NYT Strands Spangram Hint
The Spangram hint for yesterday’s Strands, January 17, 2026, is Vertical, and starts from the Bottom and ends at the Top. Here’s another hint for the Spangram: it begins with the letters “FO”.
Spoiler Alert!
Scroll past this AT YOUR OWN RISK. The theme word answers for today’s Strands below.
Yesterday’s Strands Spangram Answer
If you still couldn’t guess the correct word for yesterday’s Strands Spangram, then here is the answer. Proceed at your own risk:
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?
NYT Strands Answers for Yesterday’s Puzzle
Finally, the moment you have been waiting for, here are the answers to yesterday’s NYT Strands for January 17th, 2026.
- TARNATION
- PHOOEY
- CURSES
- TARD
- FIDDLESTICKS
Difficulty Level for Strands Today
As a NYT Strands veteran player and based on my experience with the game, I would rank today’s game 2 out of 5. On my scale, 1 is the easiest and 5 is the hardest, in terms of difficulty.
Yesterday’s Strands puzzlewas a difficult one for me. Even though I have grown up watching cartoons where the villain would say such things, lately the swear words I recall are anything but ‘mild’. So I had to take multiple hints along the way to finally be able to solve today’s NYT puzzle.
Done with yesterday’s puzzle? Then you might want to go ahead and solve today’s NYT Strands puzzle to continue your streak.
If you are unable to solve puzzle #685, then the Spangram for the Strands puzzle from yesterday, January 17, 2026, is “FOILEDAGAIN”.
The theme for yesterday’s Strands game is – That’s putting it mildly!
Similar to Connections and Wordle, NYT Strands now has a dedicated “archive” page. So, you can subscribe to NYT Games and play old puzzles by selecting the desired date on the website.
