The NYT Strands answer for today, July 24, 2026 (puzzle #873), is built around the theme “There’s More Where That Came From.” The spangram is AND THEN SOME. The six theme words are listed below, with hints first for players still solving.
Hints for NYT Strands #873
Hint 1: Every theme word is a synonym for something extra – something you have beyond what’s needed or already used.
Hint 2: The spangram is an idiomatic phrase that means “more than enough” or “above and beyond what was promised.”
Hint 3: Think about a kitchen after a big meal, a warehouse with overflow stock, or a wardrobe full of clothes that never get worn.
NYT Strands #873 Full Answer
Theme: “There’s More Where That Came From”
Spangram: AND THEN SOME
Theme Words: SURPLUS, LEFTOVER, UNUSED, EXCESS, SPARE, EXTRA
The theme is built around abundance – six words that all describe something present beyond what’s required. AND THEN SOME is the spangram, an idiomatic phrase that means “and then beyond that amount too,” which is precisely what each theme word represents.
EXTRA and SPARE are the easiest finds. Both are short, common words with immediate everyday meaning. SURPLUS and EXCESS carry a more formal or economic register – budget overruns, warehouse inventory, surplus grain – while LEFTOVER and UNUSED are the most concrete: the rice left in the pot after dinner, the gym membership that goes untouched through January.
The main difficulty in #873 is the competition from synonyms that almost fit but don’t. ADDITIONAL, REMAINING, RESIDUAL, REDUNDANT – solvers testing those words find letters but not the right pattern. The correct six are united by being common, standalone English synonyms with no prefix or compound form.
AND THEN SOME, as the spangram is one of the more satisfying to find because the phrase itself is thematically perfect. Once it locks in end to end, the remaining theme words tend to follow quickly – the semantic field narrows sharply to familiar, single-word everyday terms, and solvers who found EXTRA and SPARE first will have the anchoring letters to place the longer, less-obvious SURPLUS and LEFTOVER.
For recent Strands coverage, see our hints and answer for NYT Strands July 23, 2026 (#872) and our earlier coverage of NYT Strands puzzle #862 (July 13).
