Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Tuesday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, August 26 (game #541).

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 NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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 #542) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Go with the flow

NYT Strands today (game #542) – hint #2 – clue words

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

  • POOR 
  • BLANK
  • WASTER
  • CHEF
  • SLOP
  • STRAW

NYT Strands today (game #542) – hint #3 – spangram letters

How many letters are in today’s spangram?

• Spangram has 13 letters

NYT Strands today (game #542) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

First side: top, 3rd column

Last side: bottom, 2nd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #542) – the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 542 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #542, are…

  • LAKE
  • POND
  • OCEAN
  • HARBOR
  • LAGOON
  • SWAMP
  • BAYOU
  • SPANGRAM: BODIES OF WATER
  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 1 hint

My first thought when seeing the theme was rivers, but the lack of a letter V on the board ruled out that possibility. After finding a whole bunch of non-game letters I decided to take a hint.

LAKE gave me the confirmation I needed and from there I circuited the board in search of BODIES OF WATER, finding our lengthy Spangram immediately after POND.

From here it was plain sailing. Grabbing OCEAN was just a case of finding the game’s only letter C.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, August 26, game #541)

  • DAISY
  • BLUEBELL
  • PRIMROSE
  • MARIGOLD
  • CHAMOMILE
  • SPANGRAM: WILDFLOWER

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.