NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, August 15 (game #165)

Today's Strands is a relatively easy one, in my experience, but I've compiled some hints for you below anyway, just in case.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Is this some kind of joke?

NYT Strands today (game #165) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• DROWN
• FOOT
• JOKER
• FOUR
• WREST
• ROLE

NYT Strands today (game #165) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Funny person

NYT Strands today (game #165) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: top, 3rd column

Last: bottom, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #165) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #165, are…

• COMIC
• FOOL
• CLOWN
• JESTER
• PRANKSTER
• BUFFOON
• SPANGRAM: YOUREKIDDING

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

If I didn't write this column each day I wouldn't always need to find hint words in Strands. And today was one of those days. While scanning the board for words I could include in my hints, I accidentally uncovered COMIC, FOOL and CLOWN, meaning I was halfway through the game before I should even have started. It was that simple!

The spangram was the hardest thing about it, actually; I was convinced it would include JOKE or JOKER in some way, but the J went into JESTER instead and the spangram was the less obvious YOUREKIDDING. But I doubt people will struggle today even with that in mind – the words are all just too obvious.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 14 August, game #164)

• RANCH
• BUNGALOW
• CRAFTSMAN
• COLONIAL
• CABIN
• COTTAGE
• SPANGRAM: HOUSES

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.