NYT Strands is the newest obsession for word nerds. It’s harder than Wordle. It’s weirder than Connections. And when you see the hint It’s Been a While Strands, your brain might just short-circuit for a second. We’ve all been there, staring at a grid of letters that looks like alphabet soup, trying to figure out if the theme is about nostalgic music, long-lost friends, or maybe just a pile of dusty artifacts in a basement.
Actually, it's about time.
The New York Times Games team, led by editor Tracy Bennett and others, loves a good pun. When "It's Been a While" popped up as the theme for Strands #102, people went hunting for Staind lyrics. They didn't find them. Instead, they found a collection of words that describe things that happened... well, a long time ago. Or things that signify the passage of time. It's a tricky one because the phrase is so colloquial that you expect a conversational answer, but the grid wants something much more literal and historical.
What Was the "It's Been a While" Strands Actually About?
If you were playing Strands on June 13, 2024, you encountered this specific puzzle. The theme was It's Been a While, and the Spangram—the yellow word that touches two opposite sides of the grid—was ANCIENT.
That changes everything, doesn't it?
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Suddenly, you aren't looking for "yesterday" or "recently." You're looking for words like ANTIQUE, ARCHAIC, and RELYC. Wait, I spelled that wrong—it's RELIC. That’s the thing about Strands. You can see the word, but tracing it through the grid feels like trying to untangle a pair of wired headphones from 2005. You have to be precise. The "It's Been a While" puzzle specifically focused on synonyms for very, very old things. It wasn't about your ex-boyfriend calling you after three years. It was about stuff that belongs in a museum.
The Words That Left People Stumped
The "It's Been a While" Strands grid included a specific set of words that fall under the umbrella of "ancient." If you're looking back at this puzzle or stuck on a similar "time" themed daily, here is the breakdown of what was actually in there.
The Spangram was ANCIENT. The supporting words included:
- ANTIQUE (A classic go-to for anything old)
- ARCHAIC (Think old-fashioned language or laws)
- FOSSIL (Literally a rock now)
- RELIC (Something that survived from the past)
- AGED (Simple, but easy to miss in a messy grid)
- OLDEN (A bit poetic, honestly)
- PAST (The most basic one of the bunch)
One of the hardest parts of this specific puzzle was the word ARCHAIC. It’s not a word we use in daily conversation unless we’re complaining about a company’s software or a weirdly specific tax law. Finding it in a cluster of letters where the 'C' and 'H' are separated by a 'Z' or some other distractor is a nightmare. Honestly, the NYT editors are a little bit mean for that one, but that’s why we play.
Why This Specific Puzzle Went Viral
Strands is still in its beta-ish, growing-pains phase compared to the heavy hitters like the Crossword. When a theme like It’s Been a While drops, the internet reacts because it’s vague. Vague is the enemy of a quick morning win.
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People love to share their results on Twitter (X) and Threads using those little colored circle emojis. When "It's Been a While" hit, the "failed" grids were everywhere. Why? Because the hint was a "misleading" prompt. In the world of cryptic crosswords and NYT puzzles, this is called a "misdirection." You think of the song by Staind. You think of the phrase "It's been a while since I've seen you." You don't immediately think of a FOSSIL.
The psychological gap between "a while" and "ten million years" is huge. That’s the trick.
Strategies for Beating Strands When the Hint is Vague
When you're faced with a theme like "It's Been a While" or anything equally cryptic, you need a system. Don't just swipe at the screen. That’s how you end up frustrated.
First, look for the Spangram. It's always yellow. It always describes the theme perfectly. In the "It's Been a While" Strands, finding ANCIENT early on would have saved everyone about twenty minutes of staring. The Spangram usually spans from left to right or top to bottom. It’s the backbone of the puzzle. If you find a word that seems like a synonym for the theme but it isn't turning yellow, it’s just a supporting word.
Second, use the "Hint" button if you're truly stuck, but use it strategically. Every time you find a word that isn't part of the theme, it fills up your hint meter. Three non-theme words equals one hint. The hint will highlight the letters of one theme word, but it won't tell you the order. It’s like a nudge rather than an answer key.
Third, look for suffixes. English is predictable. If you see 'ING,' 'ED,' or 'TION,' there is a high probability those letters belong together. In the It's Been a While puzzle, 'ED' was a huge clue for AGED.
The Evolution of the NYT Strands Meta
Since its debut, Strands has shifted. Initially, the themes were very literal. If the theme was "In the Kitchen," you’d find "Spatula." But as the game has matured, the editors have started leaning into puns and cultural references.
The "It's Been a While" puzzle marked a turning point where the difficulty spiked. It moved from a simple word-search clone to a lateral thinking exercise. This is why it’s becoming a staple of the morning routine for millions. It requires a different part of the brain than Wordle. Wordle is about process of elimination and phonics. Strands is about spatial awareness and vocabulary depth.
You aren't just finding words; you're solving a riddle where the answer is hidden in plain sight.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Strands
Don't ignore the unused letters. In Strands, every single letter in the grid must be used exactly once. If you think you found the word "OLD" but there is a lonely "EN" sitting right next to it, you haven't found the right word. You've found a piece of OLDEN.
This is where the "It's Been a While" puzzle tripped people up. People found "OLD" and moved on, only to realize later that they couldn't finish the rest of the grid because those leftover letters didn't form anything.
Also, don't get stuck on one direction. Words in Strands can go upwards, downwards, diagonally, and then pull a U-turn. They are "strands" of yarn, not straight lines. If you're looking for ARCHAIC, you might have to go up two squares, over one, and then back down. It’s dizzying.
Looking Ahead: What's Next for Strands?
The popularity of puzzles like "It's Been a While" ensures that the NYT will keep making them more complex. We’re likely to see more themes that rely on double meanings.
If you want to stay ahead of the curve, start thinking about themes in two ways:
- The Literal Meaning: What does this phrase mean in a dictionary?
- The Figurative Meaning: What else could this imply? (Music, movies, idioms).
If the theme is "Green With Envy," don't just look for words about jealousy. Look for "Lime," "Emerald," and "Grass."
Actionable Steps for Your Next Strands Puzzle
To get better at Strands and handle puzzles as tough as It's Been a While, follow this workflow:
- Scan for the Spangram first. It is the only word that touches two sides. Look for long, theme-heavy words that bisect the grid.
- Isolate corners. Corner letters are usually the start or end of a word because they have fewer neighbors. If there's a 'Z' or an 'X' in a corner, start there.
- Build your hint bank early. If you see a word that isn't part of the theme (like "CAT" or "DOG" in a puzzle about space), highlight it anyway. It fills your hint bar. Use those hints when you're down to the last two words and the letters look like gibberish.
- Say the theme out loud. Sometimes hearing "It's Been a While" helps you realize it sounds like something else or reminds you of a specific context you missed while reading it silently.
- Check the archives. If you missed the "It's Been a While" Strands (#102), you can often find archive links or fan-made recreations online to practice.
Strands isn't just a game; it's a daily test of how flexible your brain can be. The next time a theme feels impossible, just remember that the answer is usually much simpler—or much older—than you think.