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March 22, 2026 
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Today’s puzzle, by Alex Eaton-Salners, is an impressive feat of constructing that has a cool wordplay theme and features every letter of the alphabet — many more than once. In his constructor notes, he wrote: “The trickiest part of developing such theme sets is often picking themers that symmetrically mesh. That includes selecting which motivations to use and finding embodiments that complete the symmetry.” You can get more insights on how he made this puzzle in the Wordplay column.
Puzzles You May Have Missed
Crossplay Tip
By Morris Greenberg Morris Greenberg is a crossword game expert. |
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Look at the vowel and consonant ratio of the tiles remaining in the bag: It is good practice to consider what letters have not yet been played. You can check this by tapping the icon at the top of the screen between your name and your opponent’s. If you notice the bag has a lot of vowels remaining relative to consonants (or vice versa), then it is often good to adjust your strategy in the other direction.
Connections Quandary
Here’s the hardest category from Sunday, March 15. What connects these four things? See the answer in the P.S.
Strands
Last week’s hardest Strands puzzle was IT FOLLOWS, from Wednesday, March 18 — 85.47 percent of solvers were able to complete it.
Last week’s easiest Strands puzzle was BEST OF ALL, from Sunday, March 15 — 92.44 percent of solvers were able to complete it.
Strands puzzles last week — from March 13 to 19 — were a little bit easier than those from the week before.
Wordle Weekly Recap
Hardest word: EATEN, from Friday, March 13.
Average guesses: 4.58, with 15.75 percent of players solving in three or fewer.
Easiest word: CLASP, from Tuesday, March 17.
Average guesses: 3.91, with 35.19 percent of players solving in three or fewer.
The Wordle answers last week — from March 13 to 19 — were roughly equal in difficulty compared with those from the week before.
Spelling Bee Hive
Overall, the Spelling Bee hives last week — from March 13 to 19 — were much harder than those from the week before. Of our subscribers who played last week, 37.92 percent hit Genius at least once.
Last week’s hardest puzzle: Tuesday, March 17 had the hardest pangram, with only 34.48 percent of users finding it.
Tuesday’s pangram: BEFOULED
Letter set: F B D E L O U
Relax With Us
As winter turns to spring, I’ll be spending some time this weekend at my local sauna. I read this article a couple of months ago about how Americans are still learning how to act at the sauna. While I’ve certainly met people there who are trying to optimize their relaxation, my experience has largely been one of unparalleled lounging. I use my precious sauna time to put my phone away and disconnect from the rest of the world. I do some of my best thinking when the only thing I can think about is the heat. Stay warm, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
How are we doing?
We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to crosswordeditors@nytimes.com.
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P.S. The answer to the Connections Quandary is that they are all words that come after “bull.”
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