NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Tuesday, July 23 (game #142)

Another day, another Strands puzzle from the NYT to get your brain working. There are hints below if you need them.

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 #142) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… You're the best!

NYT Strands today (game #142) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SLUR
• SLURP
• MUST
• STUMP
• PICNIC
• EXCITE

NYT Strands today (game #142) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Winner

NYT Strands today (game #142) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: right, 6th row

• Last: left, 4th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #142) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #142, are…

• SUPERLATIVE
• EXCELLENT
• ICONIC
• PERFECT
• SUPREME
• SPANGRAM: CHAMPION

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Once again, a Strands puzzle that essentially turns out to be 'synonyms for another word' is an easy one to solve. That makes sense, given that it's generally a simpler task to think of other words that mean the same thing than it is to think of words related to a particular topic if you don't know much about the topic in question…

Anyway, the theme here was apparent once I found SUPERLATIVE (having tried and failed with SUPER), and when coupled with the theme clue of 'You're the best!' EXCELLENT was an easy solve in the top right after that, so to the spangram, CHAMPION. It took me a little while to get the next one, ICONIC, but the final two fell into place with no problem after that.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday 22 July, game #141)

• KAYAK
• CANOE
• PADDLEBOARD
• DINGHY
• DORY
• GONDOLA
• SPANGRAM: WATERCRAFT

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.