NYT Strands is the New York Times’ daily word-search/word-find style puzzle. Today’s theme was On the court — a collection of basketball-related actions and roles. The puzzle mixed short, punchy verbs with a few positional terms, plus a spangram that tied the list together.

9 December 2025 NYT Strands Theme: “On the court”

This theme leaned fully into basketball language: quick, athletic verbs and simple role words you’d hear from a coach. The grid favored short, overlapping answers, so spotting shared letters and common suffixes made the difference.

9 December 2025 NYT Strands: Hints

  • Think of quick actions you see during a game — many answers are single, active verbs.
  • Look near clusters of consonants; defenders and bigs often hide beside them.
  • Scan diagonals and reverse directions — Strands loves to bury short words at odd angles.
  • Expect both actions (what players do) and positions (what players are called).
  • Spangram: the long linking word ties the list together and uses many grid letters — use it to spot overlaps.

9 December 2025 NYT Strands: Answers

  • Dunk (a forceful scoring move).
  • Jump (basic athletic motion; look for short J-starts).
  • Block (a defensive rejection at the rim).
  • Guard (a position — often appears near shorter action words).
  • Dribble (ball control skill; slightly longer than most answers).
  • Rebound (collecting the ball after a missed shot).

Spangram

BASKETBALL

The spangram BASKETBALL used every letter in the grid at least once, linking court actions and roles into one long connector that helped find overlapping words and boost your score.

How Strands works

Strands is a daily word search puzzle with a twist:
• You’re given a theme.
• The grid is packed with hidden words tied to that theme.
• Words can run in any direction, including diagonals.
• Once you find all the theme words, you’re done!

Each puzzle usually has around 6-8 theme words.

Tips to become a NYT Strands pro

  1. Start with obvious words. Look for clear connections to the theme first.
  2. Scan diagonals early. Strands loves to hide words at an angle.
  3. Build around found words. Once one word is cleared, the leftover letters often point to the next.
  4. Use hints wisely. Earn them steadily by spotting extra words, then save them for when you’re truly stuck.
  5. Think about synonyms. The theme clue isn’t always literal — broaden your thinking.

Final Thoughts

Today’s On the court puzzle felt brisk and lively — mostly short words with one longer spangram to tie things together. If you enjoy fast spotting and overlapping letters, this one hit the sweet spot. How many did you find?