The New York Times Strands puzzle for January 23, 2026 (game #691) presents a theme centered around inexperience or naivety. Players are tasked with identifying words that describe someone who is easily deceived or lacks experience.
Today's Theme:
- "None the wiser"
Spangram:
- "Born Yesterday"
This 13-letter phrase spans from the bottom of the third column to the top of the fourth column on the board. (fortniteinsider.com)
Clue Words:
To unlock the in-game hints system, players can enter any of the following words:
- STEAR
- GRUB
- LOUSE
- SCAR
- DUSTER
- RUGBY
Answers:
- NAIVE
- CALLOW
- CREDULOUS
- GULLIBLE
- ARTLESS
- Spangram: BORNYESTERDAY
The author rated this puzzle as "Hard" and achieved a score of 2 hints. (fortniteinsider.com)
For more word-based fun, check out our pages for NYT Connections today and Quordle today, as well as Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
Note: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Spoiler Alert: The answers to today's Strands, game #691, are provided above.
Another tough game today that took me ages to complete.
Fortunately, non-game words were far easier to spot, so I grabbed a hint to get started, but it was far from easy. After getting GULLIBLE, I struggled to think of what words would be next, so I took a second hint.
Most of these words seem to be things that older people might say to insult young people, as if being world-weary is their superpower. In this regard, I consider myself ageless – as well as ARTLESS.
Let me know in the comments below how you did today.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, January 22, game #690):
- BLISS
- ECSTASY
- ELATION
- EUPHORIA
- RHAPSODY
- Spangram: SEVENTHHEAVEN
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully-fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, ... .