Strands Hint

#650Saturday, December 13, 2025

Strands answers for December 13, 2025 — “All over the place” (#650)

The NYT Strands spangram for December 13, 2025 (puzzle #650) is THATSWILD, a 9-letter answer to the theme "All over the place". The 5 theme words are CHAOTIC, DISORDERLY, STORMY, TUMULTUOUS and UNRULY.

CHAOTICDISORDERLYSTORMYTUMULTUOUSUNRULYTHATSWILD

Where is each answer on the December 13 Strands board?

Here are all 5 theme words from the December 13, 2025 Strands puzzle, with the spangram last.

The table gives the start square, end square and travel direction of all 6 answers. Every position comes from solving the grid outright — the answers have to tile all 48 letters with no overlap and no remainder, which is what makes a single arrangement provable.

Verified board positions, Strands puzzle #650
AnswerLettersStartsEndsDirection
CHAOTIC7row 4, column 6row 1, column 4diagonally across the grid
DISORDERLY10row 4, column 3row 6, column 2diagonally across the grid
STORMY6row 8, column 6row 5, column 5bottom to top
TUMULTUOUS10row 8, column 5row 8, column 1right to left
UNRULY6row 2, column 2row 1, column 3diagonally across the grid
THATSWILD9row 3, column 1row 6, column 5diagonally across the grid

What did the December 13 Strands grid look like?

Every letter below appears in exactly one answer — the 6 words tile all 48 cells of the December 13, 2025 grid.

ULYCITRUTSAOTNAIWHEHDSICRDROYLLYTMDOOULURTSUUMTS

Spangram — 9 letters5 theme words

Each line traces one answer through the letters it uses; the heavier yellow line is the spangram.

Read across the grid, row 1 reads U-L-Y-C-I-T, row 2 reads R-U-T-S-A-O, row 3 reads T-N-A-I-W-H, row 4 reads E-H-D-S-I-C, row 5 reads R-D-R-O-Y-L, row 6 reads L-Y-T-M-D-O, row 7 reads O-U-L-U-R-T, and row 8 reads S-U-U-M-T-S.

How hard was the December 13 Strands puzzle?

On the same measure applied to every puzzle since 2024, Strands #650 comes out hard, ahead of 97% of them.

Difficulty
97
percentile, hard
Path turns
29
direction changes
Decoy words
562
non-theme words accepted
Mean answer
7.8
letters per theme word

Easiest puzzle ever published on the left, hardest on the right. The formula behind the score, and the ranked list of every puzzle, are on the Strands difficulty index.

Who made the December 13 Strands puzzle?

Strands puzzle #650 was edited by Tracy Bennett, who also constructed it. Output across the whole run is broken down on who makes NYT Strands.

Common questions about the December 13 Strands puzzle

What was the clue for Strands on December 13, 2025?

The Strands clue for December 13, 2025 is “All over the place”, on puzzle #650. It is answered by the spangram THATSWILD, and all 5 theme words that day belong to that idea.

What were the Strands words on December 13, 2025?

The 5 Strands theme words for December 13, 2025 are CHAOTIC, DISORDERLY, STORMY, TUMULTUOUS and UNRULY, plus the spangram THATSWILD.

What was the big word in the December 13, 2025 Strands?

The big word — the spangram — for December 13, 2025 is THATSWILD, 9 letters long, running from row 3, column 1 to row 6, column 5. It is the one word that touches two opposite sides of the board and states the theme outright.

What did the Strands theme “All over the place” mean?

The Strands theme “All over the place” for December 13, 2025 means THATSWILD — that is what the spangram spells, and every one of the 5 theme words is an example of it.

How many theme words are in Strands December 13, 2025?

Strands puzzle #650 has 5 theme words plus one spangram, and together they use all 48 letters on the board exactly once.

How difficult was the December 13, 2025 Strands puzzle?

Strands #650 rates hard on a computed index, harder than 97% of every Strands puzzle published since March 2024.

What number was the Strands puzzle on December 13, 2025?

The Strands puzzle published on Saturday, December 13, 2025 is #650, counting from the game's launch on March 4, 2024.


Today’s puzzle and its hint ladder are on the front page. This puzzle sits in December 2025, part of the full Strands archive.