NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Friday, July 26 (game #145)

Here's a nice, easy Strands puzzle to round off the week. I say it's easy – you might disagree of course. 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 #145) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Go for the gold

NYT Strands today (game #145) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SWAG
• SWAM
• QUEST
• SQUARE
• STARE
• SCARE

NYT Strands today (game #145) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• The games

NYT Strands today (game #145) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: left, 6th row

• Last: right, 2nd row

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

NYT Strands today (game #145) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #145, are…

• TRACK
• SWIMMING
• KARATE
• GOLF
• EQUESTRIAN
• ARCHERY
• SPANGRAM: OLYMPICS

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Here's a nice timely Strands puzzle, given the Paris 2024 Olympics officially begins today. It's an easy one, too, with the theme clue of 'Go for the gold' pointing rather obviously towards OLYMPICS as the spangram and the likes of ARCHERY and SWIMMING as answers. And yes, GOLF is in there too; that's an Olympic sport this year.

Interestingly, TRACK technically shouldn't be included, because it's called 'athletics' elsewhere in the world, including in the official Olympics listings, but we'll let this one slide…

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday 25 July, game #144)

• SWING
• FUNK
• FUSION
• ACID
• COOL
• BEBOP
• MODAL
• RAGTIME
• SPANGRAM: SUBGENRE

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.