NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Tuesday, August 13 (game #163)

Are you halfway through Tuesday's Strands puzzle and finding it a bit tricky? Need just a couple more answers to complete it? Then read on for 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 #163) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Look it up!

NYT Strands today (game #163) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• BOOK
• TRAIN
• CHEST
• FUSE
• USER
• CREAM

NYT Strands today (game #163) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Find the answers

NYT Strands today (game #163) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: bottom, 3rd column

Last: top, 2nd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #163) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #163, are…

• DICTIONARY
• THESAURUS
• HANDBOOK
• ATLAS
• ALMANAC
• SPANGRAM: REFERENCE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

One for the kids here, with five answers that few people under the age of about 25 will probably have ever used. OK, that's a little OTT; online dictionaries obviously exist. But ALMANAC? HANDBOOK? ATLAS? I asked my own teens (both 14 years old) and they had no clue what an ALMANAC was, at least. The other two they had heard of, but whether they would have thought to guess them is a different matter.

I had no such problems, as a creature of advanced years, and solved this one fairly swiftly. Though again, I'm not sure I'd have got ALMANAC if it wasn't the only word left by the time I got to it…

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday 12 August, game #162)

• FLOSS
• TWERK
• MOONWALK
• VOGUE
• HUSTLE
• PIROUETTE
• SPANGRAM: DANCEMOVES

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.