The NYT Strands puzzle for Saturday, July 11, 2026, is #860. The theme is “Fishy fare,” and the spangram is CASSEROLE.
All eight theme words and the full solution are below. Three spoiler-free hints come first.
Hints Before the Answers
Hint 1: Today’s theme points to a single baked dish – not a fish market, not a restaurant, but something you might pull out of the oven on a weeknight. Think pantry staples, not fresh catch.
Hint 2: The ingredient list includes a tin from the cupboard, a dairy product, a starch, a seasoning pair, a vegetable, and a liquid that binds the whole thing together. The binding liquid is the word most solvers find last.
Hint 3: The spangram names the dish itself – a nine-letter word for a deep-dish baked preparation.
Today’s NYT Strands Spangram
CASSEROLE
Today’s NYT Strands Theme Words – July 11, 2026:
CHEESE
MILK
NOODLES
PEAS
PEPPER
SALT
SOUP
TUNA
Today’s puzzle is built around a tuna noodle casserole. The ingredients map onto the grid: TUNA (the protein), NOODLES (the starch), SOUP (the binding sauce), MILK (loosens the soup), PEAS (the vegetable), CHEESE (the topping), and SALT and PEPPER (the seasoning). CASSEROLE serves as the spangram, naming the dish itself.
SOUP is the word most solvers find last. The “fishy fare” framing sends players toward seafood vocabulary, and SOUP sits outside that frame entirely. Once the casserole structure clicks, SOUP becomes obvious.
Yesterday’s Strands puzzle (#859, July 10, 2026) carried the theme “I think …”, with the spangram WECANMAKEIT and strand words BELIEVE, GOOD, HASTE, HISTORY, LOVE, MERRY, and SENSE. The full solution is in our July 10 Strands answer guide.
NYT Strands resets daily at midnight ET. Come back tomorrow for the July 12 spangram and theme words.
