NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Wednesday, September 4 (game #185)

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… American beauty

NYT Strands today (game #185) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• DRAW
• WARD
• WOOD
• SALAD
• DRAB
• PLAN

NYT Strands today (game #185) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Natural beauties

NYT Strands today (game #185) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

First: right, 1st row

Last: left, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #185) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #185, are…

• ARCHES
• GLACIER
• REDWOOD
• SAGUARO
• BADLANDS
• SPANGRAM: NATIONALPARKS

• My rating: Difficult
• My score: 4 hints

This is one of those Strands games that will prove much, much harder if you don't live in (or have extensive knowledge of) the United States. I'm not going to complain at length about that – the New York Times is a US publication, so I understand why its focus will be there – but it makes for a deeply unsatisfying game from my point of view, because I had very little chance of solving it without lots of hints. And why would I? I doubt the average American citizen can name too many UK national parks, either…

So here my game was simply asking for a hint, finding the word, finding more hint words, asking for another one and repeat, repeat, repeat. I did get the spangram, plus BADLANDS, but I'm afraid to say I hadn't even heard of SAGUARO, ARCHES or GLACIER, so really had very little chance of getting a perfect score here.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday 3 September, game #184)

• TOLL
• RING
• CLANG
• PEAL
• KNELL
• JINGLE
• TINKLE
• CHIME
• SPANGRAM: BELLTONES

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.