NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, August 22 (game #172)

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Smoothie moves

NYT Strands today (game #172) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• PORE
• DROP
• SITTER
• PING
• TIRE
• BRIDE

NYT Strands today (game #172) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Blade runnings

NYT Strands today (game #172) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: top, 4th 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 #172) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #172, are…

• CHOP
• STIR
• WHIP
• PULSE
• LIQUEFY
• GRIND
• PUREE
• SPANGRAM: BLENDERSETTING

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 3 hints

Who knew a blender could do so much? I struggled to find all of the answers here, and needed three hints to help me complete it. That said, it's not the most coherent Strands puzzle ever, to my mind. The spangram BLENDERSETTING just about works – though it would be better if it were plural, given there are lots of settings here – but the theme clue of 'Smoothie moves' is something of a red herring, given that these are not all things you'd do to a smoothie. Or at least I don't think so – I'm not a smoothie expert, but WHIP? I'm not so sure.

Anyway, I needed three hints to really get going here, and when it came to finding the spangram was confused by BLENDER being available in two positions on the board. On the plus side, I now really want to make a smoothie…

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 21 August, game #171)

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

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.