Don’t know where to get started in today’s NYT Strands? Let us help you out. If you have no idea what today’s theme means, you’re not the only one. The good news is that we’ve cracked the code and have some helpful pointers for you. As you scroll down, we’ll explain the theme and give you some unrelated words that you can hit to unlock the hints in the puzzle. If you don’t want your results to show these hints, we’ve provided the answer key at the end. So, without further ado, here are the hints and answers to today’s NYT Strands (#860, July 11, 2026).
Read Also: Wordle #1,848 Hints and Answer to Fly Through Today’s Puzzle (July 11, 2026)
In This Article
What is Strands?
Strands is one of the most popular word games by The New York Times. You can play it in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website. The puzzle presents you with an 8×6 grid comprising a mix of letters. Alongside this grid, you are given a theme. The goal of the game is to find all the words in the grid that pertain to this theme. You can form these words by moving up, down, sideways and diagonally without overlapping the letters. When all the words have been guessed, no letter in the grid remains unlinked.
But that’s not it. There’s a puzzle within the puzzle. Apart from linking the theme-related words, you are also supposed to find the ‘Spanagram’. This word spans the entire grid, either horizontally or vertically, and is related to the words you’ve guessed already. If you don’t know where to start, you can guess random four-letter words to unlock hints. However, the final result will reflect that you took the help of these hints.
NYT Strands #860 Grid
NYT Strands #860 Theme: Fishy fare
While today’s theme doesn’t give a lot away, you can make out that it has something to do with a meal. So, let’s keep that in mind while trying to figure out the related words.
NYT Strands #860 Hint 1: Filler words
Here are some of the filler words you can use in today’s grid to score yourself some hints. These words are not related to the theme.
PALE, SOLE, TALE, SPORE, SEANCE, CHIME, PROSE, POSER, PUNT, TOAD, PEEL, ASSES, CANE, CEASE, SEEN, SORE, LATER, and more.
NYT Strands #860 Hint 2: Spanagram
Today’s Spanagram is aligned horizontally. It starts from the 5th row, goes down to the 6th row, then ends up back in the 5th row.
NYT Strands #860 Answers: Word List Today (July 11, 2026)
- PEAS
- TUNA
- SALT
- PEPPER
- NOODLES
- CHEESE
- MILK
- SOUP
Spanagram: CASSEROLE
Read Also: All the Hints, Clues, and Answers to NYT Connections (#1,126) July 11, 2026
How did other players do today?
Early Strands testers get to choose from 3 difficulty levels after finishing the puzzle: easy, moderate, and challenging. The average ratings indicated that the puzzle was challenging today. How did you fare? Let us know in the comments!
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