Find all the instruments hidden in the grid and the spangram that ties them together. Use the progressive hints below before uncovering the full answer.
🔢#740Puzzle Number
🎼5 WordsTheme Words
🌿Mountain BandToday’s Theme
⭐MediumDifficulty
How Strands Works
Quick guide
🔵Theme WordsFind hidden words connected by today’s theme. Words can run in any direction — horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Every letter in the 6×8 grid will be used.
💡Hint SystemFind non-theme words of 4+ letters to earn hints. Every three bonus words earns one hint, which automatically reveals a theme word when used.
🌟SpangramEvery puzzle has a spangram — a special word or phrase that describes the overarching theme and touches two opposite sides of the grid. Find it last.
Hints
Progressively stronger — no spoilers
01
Today’s theme is “Mountain Band” — think of the traditional American folk music that originated in the Appalachian mountains and became one of the most distinctive sounds in American roots music.
Theme
02
All five theme words are musical instruments — specifically those you’d hear played together in a traditional old-time or roots music group from the mountain south of the United States.
Category
03
Several of the answers are string instruments typically played in acoustic settings. Think of instruments that would need no amplification at all — the kind you’d hear on a porch in the mountains.
Instrument Type
04
One of the theme words is a small handheld wind instrument often used in blues and folk music. You hold it to your mouth and blow and draw air across individual reeds to produce notes.
Wind Instrument
05
One answer is a word that also means a violin in folk and country music contexts — same instrument, different name depending on the genre and playing style. It’s the backbone of bluegrass music.
String — Alternate Name
06
The five instruments hidden in today’s grid are: a plucked string instrument with a circular body and long neck iconic to country/folk; a bowed instrument; a small guitar-like instrument with 8 strings; a 6-string acoustic; and a mouth instrument.
All Five Clued
07
The spangram is two words totalling 13 letters. It names a genre of American roots music associated with Kentucky, Bill Monroe, and the Appalachian mountains — a style defined by acoustic string instruments and tight harmonies.
Spangram
Theme Words
Click each card to reveal
🪕BANJO5 lettersA plucked string instrument with a circular body, long neck, and distinctive twangy resonance — the most iconic sound of bluegrass and old-time mountain musicTap to reveal
🎻FIDDLE6 lettersAnother name for a violin when played in folk, country, or bluegrass style. The fiddle is the backbone of Appalachian music and old-time string band traditionTap to reveal
🎸MANDOLIN8 lettersA small, pear-shaped string instrument with 8 strings in 4 paired courses, played with a plectrum. Bill Monroe made it central to the bluegrass sound he pioneered in the 1940sTap to reveal
🎵HARMONICA9 lettersA small handheld wind instrument where reeds vibrate as the player blows and draws air through chambers. Common in blues, folk, and country music throughout Appalachian traditionTap to reveal
🎸GUITAR6 lettersThe 6-string acoustic guitar provides rhythmic foundation and melodic runs in bluegrass and old-time music. The flat-top acoustic guitar became standard in mountain music from the early 20th centuryTap to reveal
Spangram
The answer connecting everything — tap to reveal
⭐ Today’s Spangram — 13 Letters · Two Words
BLUEGRASSMUSICBLUEGRASS MUSIC
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music that developed in the 1940s, pioneered by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. Named after Monroe’s home state of Kentucky, the Bluegrass State, it features virtuosic acoustic string instruments — banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar — played at high speed with close harmonies and improvised instrumental breaks. Today’s five theme words are all instruments fundamental to the bluegrass sound.
Theme: “Mountain Band” — five instruments at the heart of traditional Appalachian music. Spangram: BLUEGRASS MUSIC (13 letters) — the American roots genre pioneered by Bill Monroe in the 1940s, named after his home state of Kentucky (the Bluegrass State). All five theme words are acoustic instruments commonly heard together in a bluegrass or old-time string band.
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