If you’re hooked on the daily NYT Strands puzzle, you’re in for another treat. This fresh word game challenges your vocabulary and pattern recognition with clever themes each day.

Theme: “Knock Knock”

Today’s Strands greeted solvers with a riddle-like charm. The theme Knock Knock hinted at everything related to getting inside — from doors and gates to the very act of stepping through a threshold. It was a warm welcome to a puzzle that played with words of entry and invitation.

Hints for Today’s Strands

  1. Open Sesame: Every answer is about entering or access.
  2. Welcome Home: These words describe ways in or openings to a place.
  3. Formal & Fancy: Some sound like they belong in castles or cathedrals.
  4. Everyday Access: Others are simple, things you pass through daily.
  5. Same Idea, Different Words: Most are synonyms for “entrance.”
  6. The Title’s a Clue: “Knock Knock” — what comes next? Let me in!
  7. Spangram: Exactly what someone says when they’re ready to come inside.

Today’s Strands Answers

  • INGRESS – a formal word for entering.
  • ENTRANCE – the act or place of entry.
  • PORTAL – a grand or magical doorway.
  • DOORWAY – the literal opening into a room or house.
  • THRESHOLD – the line where outside becomes inside.
  • GATE – a barrier that swings open for welcome or warning.

Spangram

LET ME IN — the perfect phrase to tie together every entryway and access point in today’s theme.

Solving Tips

  • Start with DOORWAY or GATE — the most obvious physical entries.
  • Look for formal synonyms like INGRESS and PORTAL once the pattern clicks.
  • The spangram LET ME IN comes naturally from the theme Knock Knock.

Why This Puzzle Was So Welcoming

It combined wordplay with elegance — a mix of everyday and elevated language. The puzzle was smooth to solve but full of satisfying “aha!” moments, like unlocking a door with the perfect key.