The theme for the NYT Strands puzzle on Monday, November 24, 2025, is “Horsing Around,” focusing on jobs related to horses. The Spangram that spans the grid is EQUESTRIAN. The five theme words are JOCKEY, GROOM, FARRIER, VETERINARIAN, and WRANGLER. The puzzle was challenging due to the length and specialized vocabulary of the words.
Strands Theme and Word List
The Spangram Solution
The Spangram for today, November 24, 2025, runs Across the grid, confirming the theme:
EQUESTRIAN
Full List of Strands Theme Words
The puzzle theme is Horsing Around (Professions involving horses).11
| No. | Hidden Word | Connection to Theme |
| 1 | JOCKEY | Rider in horse races |
| 2 | GROOM | Person who cares for horses |
| 3 | FARRIER | Specialist who shoes horses |
| 4 | VETERINARIAN | Animal doctor |
| 5 | WRANGLER | Person who handles horses/cattle |
What Is Strands?
Strands is a daily word-search puzzle from The New York Times. The player must find all the words related to a hidden theme by swiping or clicking letters in the grid. The puzzle always contains one special, theme-defining word called the Spangram.
How to Play Strands
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Find Theme Words: Swipe over adjacent letters (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) to form words that fit the puzzle’s hidden theme.
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Locate Spangram: The Spangram is a key word or phrase that stretches from one side of the grid to the opposite side (top-to-bottom or left-to-right). It explicitly reveals the theme.
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Use Hints: If you submit three words that are not theme words but are valid words of four letters or more, the puzzle will give you a hint by highlighting the letters of one theme word.
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Solve: The game is complete when the Spangram and all theme words are found, and all letters on the board are used.
Strands Strategy for Specialized Themes
Targeted Hunting: The Spangram Rule
The first step is always to look for a long word that touches both vertical or horizontal edges—today it’s EQUESTRIAN. Once you have this 10-letter word, the rest of the puzzle should fall into place, as it clearly defines the necessary vocabulary.
Dealing with Long Words
Words like VETERINARIAN are difficult because they take up so much space. If you find a long word, use your phone’s screenshot feature or a pen and paper to mentally mark the letters as “used” to find the remaining, shorter words more easily.
