NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Saturday, August 24 (game #174)

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Crumby theme

NYT Strands today (game #174) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• MAIN
• FAST
• SACK
• LORE
• WRIST
• CRATE

NYT Strands today (game #174) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Just add cheese

NYT Strands today (game #174) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: left, 5th row

Last: right, 7th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #174) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #174, are…

• RICE
• SODA
• WATER
• OYSTER
• GOLDFISH
• SALTINE
• SPANGRAM: CRACKERS

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 hints

I do like a nice cracker with a bit of cheese, but have hardly heard of any of the types in today's Strands, so struggled to uncover them all and needed a couple of hints. RICE and WATER I'm aware of (and have eaten), GOLDFISH I was vaguely aware of from TV and movies but SODA, OYSTER and SALTINE… nope, no experience with them. Well, I say that, but it turns out I am aware of them, I'd just never heard them called that.

Anyway, you don't care about my eating habits, so I'll shut up about it and simply say that if you got the rather easy spangram – which the theme clue didn't really help with AT ALL – plus maybe one or two of the others, you'll probably have been OK today.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 23 August, game #173)

• MUSK
• SANDALWOOD
• CEDAR
• ROSE
• LEMON
• LAVENDER
• SPANGRAM: COMMONSCENTS

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.