NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Saturday, July 13 (game #132)

Got any plans for the weekend? Whatever you're doing, you should start with a quick bout of Strands, the NYT's newish word game. It's challenging, good fun and there's a new one each day; what's not to like?

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today , NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #132) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Hello kitty

NYT Strands today (game #132) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• HOLE
• CRAFT
• CONIC
• TACK
• SCAB
• SHELL

NYT Strands today (game #132) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Hair styles

NYT Strands today (game #132) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First: left, 5th row

• Last: right, 5th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #132) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #132, are…

• TORTOISESHELL
• TUXEDO
• TABBY
• BLACK
• CALICO
• ORANGE
• SPANGRAM: FURCOAT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

This Strands puzzle was supremely easy until right at the end, when it suddenly wasn't. The theme was, essentially, 'cat fur types', which is a good one for me given that I have shared a home with three cats to date. Or rather, they've let me live with them, and given me the honor of feeding them, in exchange mostly for a mild disdain on their part plus the occasional stroke if they're feeling charitable towards me.

Anyway, the clue gave the game away, and the likes of TABBY and TORTOISESHELL were very easy to find. All was going swimmingly until the end. I had two words left, but couldn't work out what either was and eventually used a hint. That gave me the letters O-C-C-A-L-I, and no matter what I tried I couldn't assemble them into a word. Eventually, through trial and error, I got CALICO, which maybe I should have known but didn't. That left one more – so no need for a hint. But again, I couldn't form a word from the letters A-R-N-O-G-E. After several minutes of torture I realized the answer was the obvious ORANGE and rather shamefacedly played it to complete the game.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 12 July, game #131)

• SOUL
• ACCORD
• OUTBACK
• CHARGER
• EQUINOX
• EXPLORER
• SPANGRAM: CARMODELS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to h ow to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.