Stuck on the August 20, 2026 NYT Strands puzzle? Here are progressive hints and the full answer for the “Split superlatives” puzzle (Strands #591 of 591 in our archive). Every reveal is hidden by default — click to open the ones you need.
The theme for the August 20, 2026 NYT Strands puzzle is “Split superlatives”. Every theme word and the spangram connects back to this phrase, so think about what related words might fit a 6×8 grid of 48 letters before you start scanning.
The spangram for the “Split superlatives” puzzle is 8 letters long and starts with the letter Y. It touches two opposite edges of the grid, as every NYT Strands spangram does.
Besides the spangram, the August 20, 2026 NYT Strands puzzle has 8 theme words. Together with the spangram, they use every letter on the 6×8 grid exactly once.
The spangram for the August 20, 2026 NYT Strands “Split superlatives” puzzle is YOURETHE. It spans two opposite edges of the 6×8 grid and captures the theme directly.
Here are the 8 theme words for the August 20, 2026 NYT Strands “Split superlatives” puzzle:
Plus the spangram YOURETHE, that’s every word on the grid — all 48 letters accounted for.
Answers for the August 20, 2026 NYT Strands puzzle. Strands Unlimited is an independent fan archive — today's NYT Strands is free on nytimes.com/games/strands.
The theme "Split superlatives" sets the scene for this Strands puzzle with a descriptive phrase that hints at what the hidden words have in common. Descriptive themes in Strands work like a title for a category — they paint a picture, and the theme words are the details that fill it in. This general puzzle asks you to find words that fit within the world the theme describes, with the spangram acting as the key that connects them all.
At 8 theme words, this is one of the denser puzzles in the archive. The grid is packed, so words will be closer together. With 8 letters, the spangram is mid-length — long enough to stand out in the grid but still requiring careful scanning to trace from edge to edge. Originally published on a Thursday, Puzzle #591 is a more recent addition to the 591+ puzzle archive.
