NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, September 19 (game #200)

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

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Work out the bugs

NYT Strands today (game #200) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• WARE
• SCARE
• MIRE
• TIRE
• BEET
• PLIER

NYT Strands today (game #200) - hint #3 - spangram

What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Minibeasts

NYT Strands today (game #200) - 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 #200) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #200, are…

• SPIDER
• MILLIPEDE
• BEETLE
• TERMITE
• EARWIG
• SPANGRAM: CREEPYCRAWLIES

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

This is a bit of a strange Strands game, in that the spangram is very long and only leaves room for five other answers. Given that these are all pretty easy, that makes for a potentially quick solve and a short game.

It's not necessarily an unsatisfying one (for me at least, because I love bugs), but I do wish it had been slightly harder. Once I spotted SPIDER the theme was obvious, and the spangram itself was easy too. Its position on the board left little room for doubt about what most of the other solutions were, and I was done in about five minutes max.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday 18 September, game #199)

• KNIFE
• PLIERS
• HAMMER
• SCREWDRIVER
• WRENCH
• LEVEL
• SPANGRAM: TOOLCHEST

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.