Strands puzzle for April 23, No. 781, asks solvers to work through a theme called Provinces of the Pantheon. The clue is Gods and goddesses, and the spangram is DOMAIN.
That means the answers all point to areas over which ancient gods and goddesses were said to rule. To find DOMAIN, a player should start with the D that is five letters down on the far-left row and wind across.
The puzzle has a very stereotypical New York Times topic, the kind that rewards a little sideways thinking more than brute force. Some of the answers are also difficult to unscramble, which can slow a player down even after the theme becomes clear.
Strands gives another nudge along the way. Every time a player finds three words of four letters or more, the game reveals one of the theme words, a mechanic that can turn a stuck board into a solvable one.
The number of theme answers can vary, and it is not always eight. That leaves room for a puzzle like this one to feel both familiar and slightly unpredictable, even with the clue laid out so plainly.
For players tackling April 23's board, the path is straightforward now: look for the domain names hidden in the grid, then use the reveal system to break open whatever is left.
That is the answer to the day’s question. The challenge was never just spotting gods and goddesses; it was seeing that the game wanted the places they ruled.
