‘Will You Be My Valentine’ NYT Strands Hint — Theme, Spangram & Answers

NYT Strands — the free daily word puzzle from The New York Times Games — used the hint ‘Will you be my valentine?’ for Strands #348 on February 14, 2025. This guide decodes what the hint means as a theme, reveals the spangram, and gives you all six answers.

About this guide: Based on direct daily play of NYT Strands. For the full rules of how theme hints work, see our complete beginner’s guide to NYT Strands. To understand how hint phrases decode, see what the Strands hint means.

Quick answer: ‘Will you be my valentine?’ points to terms of endearment — the affectionate pet names couples use for each other. The spangram is ENDEARMENT. The six theme words are ANGEL, DARLING, HONEY, LOVEBUG, POOKIE, and SNOOKUMS.

What Does ‘Will You Be My Valentine’ Mean as a Strands Hint?
‘Will you be my valentine?’ is the classic Valentine’s Day question — a declaration of romantic interest, most familiar from children’s classroom cards and the traditional February 14 greeting. Most players immediately connect it to love, hearts, flowers, or Valentine’s Day imagery. That surface association is the misdirection.

The hint is pointing at something more specific: the language of love — specifically, the pet names and terms of endearment that people use when addressing someone they love. When you ask someone to be your valentine, you’re also the kind of person who calls them HONEY or DARLING or SNOOKUMS. The theme words are all affectionate nicknames used between romantic partners.

This is a clean, well-aimed hint for Valentine’s Day — published on February 14, it uses the seasonal occasion to point directly at the theme without any complex misdirection. The leap from ‘be my valentine’ to ‘terms of endearment’ is a single step. For more on how seasonal hints work, see our guide to how NYT Strands picks its daily theme.

Theme Category — What Words to Expect
The theme is terms of endearment — the affectionate nicknames people use for romantic partners. Six words to find:

•ANGEL — a classic term of endearment suggesting someone is heavenly, pure, and impossibly good
•DARLING — one of the most timeless and elegant terms of endearment in English; formal yet deeply warm
•HONEY — one of the most commonly used pet names in American English; sweet, warm, familiar
•LOVEBUG — a playful, affectionate compound term; the ‘bug’ suffix adds cuteness to the love
•POOKIE — a nonsense-word pet name that has become widely popular in modern usage; affectionate and slightly silly
•SNOOKUMS — a distinctly old-fashioned and playful term of endearment; affectionate and humorous in equal measure

SNOOKUMS and POOKIE are the words that trip up most players — both are genuine terms of endearment but neither sounds like a ‘real word’ at first glance. SNOOKUMS in particular looks like a grid coincidence rather than a theme word. If you find five words and can’t locate the sixth, check for both of these. For more on theme word recognition, see common NYT Strands theme categories.

Finding the Spangram — Strategy for This Puzzle
The spangram ENDEARMENT is a single 10-letter word. Here’s how to find it:

•Look for E near the top edge — verified solutions confirm ENDEARMENT starts with E and spans from the top to the bottom of the grid.
•ENDEARMENT runs mostly vertically — trace downward from E looking for N-D-E-A-R-M-E-N-T.
•The word ‘endearment’ may not be in everyone’s immediate vocabulary as a standalone word — it’s the noun form of ‘endear,’ meaning to cause someone to be loved.
•Find HONEY first — at just five letters it’s the shortest and most recognisable theme word, and locating it quickly clears grid space to trace the spangram.

For the full edge-scanning technique, see our guide to how to find the spangram every time.

SPOILER WARNING: Full answers below. To keep solving, stop here. For strategies without spoilers, see how to solve NYT Strands without using hints.

‘Will You Be My Valentine’ — Full Answers
The Theme
Terms of endearment — the affectionate pet names and nicknames used between romantic partners.

The Spangram
ENDEARMENT — a single 10-letter word spanning the full grid mostly vertically from top to bottom, naming the category of affectionate language all six theme words belong to.

The Theme Words
•ANGEL — heavenly, pure; a timeless term of affection
•DARLING — elegant and warm; one of the most classic English endearments
•HONEY — sweet and familiar; the most commonly used American pet name
•LOVEBUG — playful compound; affectionate and cute
•POOKIE — modern nonsense-word endearment; popular and slightly silly
•SNOOKUMS — old-fashioned playful endearment; humorous and warm

Why This Hint Works the Way It Does
‘Will you be my valentine?’ is one of Strands’ most on-the-nose seasonal hints — published on Valentine’s Day itself, it uses the occasion to point directly at a love-language theme with minimal misdirection. The connection from the hint to the theme is a single step: ‘valentine’ → ‘romantic love’ → ‘what you call someone you love’ → terms of endearment.

What makes the puzzle interesting despite the accessible hint is the specific word selection. HONEY and DARLING are immediately obvious once you have the theme. ANGEL is slightly less expected. LOVEBUG requires you to think in compound words. And POOKIE and SNOOKUMS are genuinely surprising grid finds — they look like random letter clusters until the theme makes them click. The puzzle rewards players who don’t just think of ‘standard’ endearments but push into the playful, modern, and nostalgic registers of the vocabulary. For a broader look at how theme categories are structured, see common NYT Strands theme categories.

Difficulty note: ‘Will you be my valentine’ rates easy to medium. The Valentine’s Day context makes the theme decode immediate, and most words are recognisable once you know the category. SNOOKUMS and POOKIE are the sticking points — use one hint credit if you’re stuck on the final word. See how do hints work in NYT Strands for details.

Frequently Asked Questions
What does ‘Will you be my valentine’ mean in NYT Strands?
It points to terms of endearment — the affectionate pet names couples use for each other. The theme words are ANGEL, DARLING, HONEY, LOVEBUG, POOKIE, and SNOOKUMS. The spangram is ENDEARMENT.

What is the spangram for ‘Will you be my valentine’?
The spangram is ENDEARMENT — a 10-letter word that spans the full grid mostly vertically, naming the category of affectionate language the theme words belong to.

How many theme words are in this puzzle?
Six theme words plus the spangram: ANGEL, DARLING, HONEY, LOVEBUG, POOKIE, and SNOOKUMS.

Is POOKIE a real word?
Yes — POOKIE is a widely used term of endearment, particularly in American English. It doesn’t have a formal dictionary definition as a standalone word, but it’s a well-established pet name that appears in popular culture and everyday speech. In the context of this puzzle, it’s as real as any other theme word.

Where can I find today’s NYT Strands hint?
Visit thestrandshint.com for today’s hint with layered reveals — surface meaning first, theme decoded second, full answers last.

Is the ‘Will you be my valentine’ puzzle hard?
Easy to medium. The Valentine’s Day theme decode is immediate, but SNOOKUMS and POOKIE are genuine surprises. See why is NYT Strands harder on some days for more on what makes certain puzzles tougher.