NYT Strands puzzles reveal daily themes on July 5‑6, 2026

The New York Times’ daily word‑search game Strands released two consecutive puzzles.

On Sunday July 5, 2026 the theme was “Barking up the right tree.” The spangram that spans the grid was HUNTING BREEDS and the five strand words were POINTER, SPANIEL, RETRIEVER, HOUND and TERRIER —each a hunting‑dog breed.

On Monday July 6, 2026 the theme shifted to “The growing season.” The spangram was SUMMERTIME and the six strand words were BLOOM, BURGEON, EXPAND, FLOURISH, SPREAD and THRIVE, all verbs describing rapid growth.

Both puzzles follow the Strands format: a 6 × 8 letter grid where every letter belongs to a themed word, and players can earn hints by finding non‑theme words of four letters or more.