NYT Strands July 22 hints and answers: Pet Store Purchase theme, Spangram, and complete word list

NYT Strands players woke up to an aquatic-themed puzzle on July 22. The daily brain teaser kept fans guessing, with the theme titled “Pet store purchase.” If you’re someone still stuck on today’s challenge, don’t worry. We’ve got all the hints, Spangram direction, and the complete word list to help you finish the grid.


NYT Strands is a newer word puzzle game from The New York Times, joining other hits like Wordle and Connections. It gives you a 6x8 grid of letters every day, and your job is to find all the words connected to a central theme. Hidden in this grid is also one special word called the Spangram. It ties the whole theme together and runs across multiple directions, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.


For July 22, the theme was “Pet store purchase.” As soon as you hear that, it’s easy to imagine things you’d buy from a pet shop, especially for aquatic pets like fish. The biggest clue of the day was the Spangram, which started with “AQ.” If that gave you ideas of water or aquariums, you were on the right track.

The Spangram for today was AQUARIUM. Once players cracked this, finding the other theme words became simpler because everything linked to maintaining or decorating a fish tank.


Here’s the full list of theme words that fit the “Pet store purchase” puzzle:

• FISH
• TANK
• PUMP
• ROCKS
• PLANTS
• FILTER
• THERMOMETER

These are all things someone would typically buy when setting up an aquarium at home. Many players found words like FISH and TANK quickly, which made the aquatic theme easier to identify.