Shiver me timbers! NYT Strands Answer Today #930 — Saturday, 19 September 2026

Looking for the NYT Strands answer today for Saturday, 19 September 2026 (puzzle #930)? Hints come first, so you can nudge yourself along. The full answers sit below a clear spoiler warning, and nothing is given away until you scroll past it.

NYT Strands Hints for 19 September 2026 (No Spoilers)

Hint 1 (Theme): Today’s theme is “Shiver me timbers!”, so think swashbuckling slang rather than everyday vocabulary.

Hint 2 (Word count): There are seven answers to find: six regular theme words and one spangram.

Hint 3 (Word lengths): The six regular words run from 4 to 8 letters. Three are five letters long.

Hint 4 (Spangram): It’s a 15-letter phrase run together. It starts with T, ends with E, and crosses the board from side to side.

Hint 5 (Date clue): 19 September is a well-known annual “talk like…” day. If you’ve been in a pub quiz lately, you might already know which one.

⚠️ SPOILER BELOW — The answer to today’s NYT Strands follows. Stop scrolling if you haven’t played yet.

Still thinking?

Still thinking?

Still thinking?

Still thinking?

Still thinking?

NYT Strands Answer for 19 September 2026

Spangram: TALKLIKEAPIRATE

Theme words: ARRR · AVAST · HEARTIES · MATEY · SAVVY · YOHOHO

Today’s puzzle lands on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which falls every 19 September. It began in 1995 as a joke between two friends, John Baur and Mark Summers, and spread widely after humourist Dave Barry wrote about it in 2002. Most of the “pirate speak” in the grid comes from fiction rather than history. “Arrr” was popularised by Robert Newton’s performance in Disney’s 1950 Treasure Island, and “yo-ho-ho” comes from the sea song in Robert Louis Stevenson’s original novel. “Avast” is a genuine nautical order meaning “stop” or “hold fast”, thought to come from Dutch.

How Did We Do Today?

Today’s grid was medium difficulty. Once you spot the spangram, the seafaring slang falls into place, though the eight-letter HEARTIES can hide in plain sight. Share your score in the comments, and let us know if you got the spangram first! Missed yesterday’s puzzle? Catch up with yesterday’s NYT Strands answer (#929) ⚠️, then read RELATED ENTERTAINMENT ARTICLE TITLE ⚠️ or browse all daily puzzle guides.