NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, August 8 (game #158)

Thursday's Strands is here, guaranteed to get your brain working. If it works a little too hard, you might want to check out my hints below.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Splashy event

NYT Strands today (game #158) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SALT
• SASS
• LOOT
• DONE
• DRINK
• SCARE

NYT Strands today (game #158) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• H2 Oh yeah!

NYT Strands today (game #158) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

• First: left, 4th 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 #158) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #158, are…

• MUSIC
• FLOATS
• SUNSCREEN
• DRINKS
• NOODLES
• TOWELS
• SPANGRAM: POOLPARTY

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I'd rather spend time at the beach/sea than around a pool, and that might be why I've never been to a POOLPARTY. Or it could be because I don't live in a nice, sunny place like California or Florida. Either way, I was thoroughly confused by this Strands puzzle for about two minutes at the start, after finding MUSIC first. 'Splashy event' and MUSIC? What could the connection be? But then I uncovered FLOATS, too, and had that lightbulb moment where it was obvious what the theme was. The spangram followed, then the remaining answers in fairly short order for another easyish game.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 7 August, game #157)

• DOUGH
• MISTLETOE
• WHOA
• RAINBOW
• CHATEAU
• AVOCADO
• SPANGRAM: RHYMETIME

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.