NYT Strands Hints & Answer — May 13, 2026

A jaw set against the wind, boots planted in the mud, hands already reaching for the next rung — the body already knows the answer before the mind catches up.

The broad stock of everyday English phrases assessing readiness or sufficiency — expressions common enough to appear in conversation, headlines, and informal speech.

A noun phrase — a common everyday clause used as a noun.

Three short English words — a question word, a pronoun, and a verb — written as one unbroken run without spaces, in the register of plain spoken English.

Starts with W, ends with S.

The thread-like quality associated with moral backbone — the kind of inner substance people invoke when praising someone who held the line under pressure.

5 letters.

Starts with F.

Starts with FI.

The dogged quality that keeps someone at a task long after the early enthusiasm has faded — a trait soil scientists also use for coarse, grainy particles.

4 letters.

Starts with G.

Starts with GR.

A somewhat old-fashioned word for showing initiative and common sense together — the kind of resourceful boldness that grandmothers and coaches used to prize.

8 letters.

Starts with G.

Starts with GU.

In the sporting and literary sense, the quality of digging deep when all the easy options are spent — what a crowd recognizes in an athlete who refuses to fold.

5 letters.

Starts with H.

Starts with HE.

The cool composure that holds under pressure, and the audacity to act when hesitation would be easier — sometimes used admiringly, sometimes with a raised eyebrow.

5 letters.

Starts with N.

Starts with NE.

The cheerful, unassuming brand of courage that sees things through without fanfare — and also what you do to a string instrument or a garden vegetable.

5 letters.

Starts with P.

Starts with PL.

The lively, slightly irreverent quality that keeps someone bouncing back — informal and a little slangy, more at home in an underdog story than a formal report.

5 letters.

Starts with S.

Starts with SP.