Strands Hint

#709Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Strands answers for February 10, 2026 — “It's on the house” (#709)

The NYT Strands spangram for February 10, 2026 (puzzle #709) is SIDINGMATERIAL, a 14-letter answer to the theme "It's on the house". The 6 theme words are BRICK, COMPOSITE, STONE, STUCCO, VINYL and WOOD.

BRICKCOMPOSITESTONESTUCCOVINYLWOODSIDINGMATERIAL

Where is each answer on the February 10 Strands board?

Strands #709 resolves to these 6 theme words plus the spangram SIDINGMATERIAL.

The table gives the start square, end square and travel direction of all 7 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 #709
AnswerLettersStartsEndsDirection
BRICK5row 6, column 4row 3, column 2diagonally across the grid
COMPOSITE9row 7, column 5row 4, column 2diagonally across the grid
STONE5row 1, column 4row 1, column 5diagonally across the grid
STUCCO6row 1, column 1row 2, column 3diagonally across the grid
VINYL5row 3, column 3row 5, column 5diagonally across the grid
WOOD4row 3, column 1row 6, column 1top to bottom
SIDINGMATERIAL14row 1, column 6row 7, column 1diagonally across the grid

What did the February 10 Strands grid look like?

Puzzle #709 is played on 48 letters arranged in eight rows of six.

SCCSESTUOTNIWKVIODOECYNIOTIILNDOSBRGLPMOCMAIRETA

Spangram — 14 letters6 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 S-C-C-S-E-S, row 2 reads T-U-O-T-N-I, row 3 reads W-K-V-I-O-D, row 4 reads O-E-C-Y-N-I, row 5 reads O-T-I-I-L-N, row 6 reads D-O-S-B-R-G, row 7 reads L-P-M-O-C-M, and row 8 reads A-I-R-E-T-A.

How hard was the February 10 Strands puzzle?

The difficulty index rates puzzle #709 as easy: it sits at the 17th percentile of every Strands grid to date.

Difficulty
17
percentile, easy
Path turns
17
direction changes
Decoy words
853
non-theme words accepted
Mean answer
5.7
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 February 10 Strands puzzle?

Strands puzzle #709 was edited by Tracy Bennett and constructed by Christina Iverson. Output across the whole run is broken down on who makes NYT Strands.

Common questions about the February 10 Strands puzzle

What was the clue for Strands on February 10, 2026?

The Strands clue for February 10, 2026 is “It's on the house”, on puzzle #709. It is answered by the spangram SIDINGMATERIAL, and all 6 theme words that day belong to that idea.

What were the Strands words on February 10, 2026?

The 6 Strands theme words for February 10, 2026 are BRICK, COMPOSITE, STONE, STUCCO, VINYL and WOOD, plus the spangram SIDINGMATERIAL.

What was the big word in the February 10, 2026 Strands?

The big word — the spangram — for February 10, 2026 is SIDINGMATERIAL, 14 letters long, running from row 1, column 6 to row 7, column 1. It is the one word that touches two opposite sides of the board and states the theme outright.

What did the Strands theme “It's on the house” mean?

The Strands theme “It's on the house” for February 10, 2026 means SIDINGMATERIAL — that is what the spangram spells, and every one of the 6 theme words is an example of it.

How many theme words are in Strands February 10, 2026?

Strands puzzle #709 has 6 theme words plus one spangram, and together they use all 48 letters on the board exactly once.

How difficult was the February 10, 2026 Strands puzzle?

Strands #709 rates easy on a computed index, harder than 17% of every Strands puzzle published since March 2024.

What number was the Strands puzzle on February 10, 2026?

The Strands puzzle published on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 is #709, 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 February 2026, part of the full Strands archive.