NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Wednesday, August 21 (game #171)

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… One for the ages

NYT Strands today (game #171) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• RASH
• TRASH
• DASH
• HATS
• BATS
• RATS

NYT Strands today (game #171) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• It's your special day!

NYT Strands today (game #171) - 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 #171) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #171, are…

• CAKE
• PARTY
• GIFTS
• CARDS
• CANDLES
• CELEBRATE
• SPANGRAM: HAPPYBIRTHDAY

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

I'm unusual (in the TechRadar office at least) in not caring in the slightest about my birthday. I don't celebrate it, and haven't done for years - it's just another day. I don't resent people who go big on their birthdays as such, but I do wonder why it's so important that we mark the fact the Earth has rotated various multiples of 365 times since the day we were born. I think this might just be me, though.

Anyway, this was one of those Strands games where I simply could not get started without help. The theme clue of 'one for the ages' simply didn't give me enough to go on to work out the concept, so I used up a hint, which gave me the word CAKE, and after that it wasn't so bad.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday 20 August, game #170)

• UMBRELLA
• HOOD
• SLICKER
• PONCHO
• GALOSHES
• GAITERS
• SPANGRAM: RAINGEAR

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.