NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Monday, August 26 (game #176)

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… See you on the court

NYT Strands today (game #176) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• VOLE
• VOICE
• MICE
• MEAN
• SHELF
• ROGER

NYT Strands today (game #176) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Open secret

NYT Strands today (game #176) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: left, 4th row

Last: right, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #176) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #176, are…

• VOLLEY
• SLICE
• RACKET
• SMASH
• LOVE
• FOREHAND
• SERVE
• SPANGRAM: GRANDSLAM

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

My one criticism of today's Strands is that the spangram doesn't really sum up the game, as it's supposed to. GRANDSLAM is indeed a tennis-related term – but it's not the overall concept here. If it were, the answers would be specific to grand slam events such as Wimbledon and the US Open, but obviously they're not – they're just 'words associated with tennis'. That's a little silly, right?

Anyway, that aside this is a perfectly acceptable Strands puzzle. Even if you're not a tennis nut (I like it well enough, but I'm not one of those) you should find it fairly easy, because they're all well known terms and not horribly tough to find.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday 25 August, game #175)

• PINE
• WILLOW
• MAPLE
• SYCAMORE
• GINKGO
• CHESTNUT
• BEECH
• SPANGRAM: FOREST

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.