Definition
The spangram is the entry that both names the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite edges of the 6×8 board. Every Strands puzzle has exactly one.
Left-to-right or top-to-bottom
A left-to-right spangram has to cross six columns; a top-to-bottom one has to cross eight rows. That is why vertical spangrams skew longer, and it is a real tell: if the remaining unlit letters form a tall column rather than a wide band, you are probably looking for a longer answer than you think.
One word or several
Spangrams are often phrases. A grid with eleven unlit letters left is not telling you there is an eleven-letter word — it may be three short words in a row.
How to find it faster
- 1Clear the easy theme words first; the spangram becomes visible by subtraction.
- 2Look at the two edges with the most unlit letters and ask what could join them.
- 3Say the theme title out loud. Spangrams are frequently a pun on it.
You can search every spangram we have recorded — by word, theme, length or edge direction — on the Spangram Finder.