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Need a hint for the Saturday, August 10, 2024, NYT Strands puzzle, game #160? The theme clue is “Not just for poking.” A gentle nudge: think “Twiggy.” The spangram and full answer list are below, with spoilers clearly marked.
Hints for Strands #160
- Theme clue: “Not just for poking.”
- Gentle spangram hint: “Twiggy.”
- In-game hint words: LIKE, CLICK, SHOE, SIZZLE, WINE, and MINE.
- Spangram placement: It starts at the left edge in row 2 and ends at the right edge in row 7.
Spoiler: the spangram
The spangram is STICKS.
Spoiler: the theme answers
- HOCKEY
- CONTROL
- LICORICE
- MEMORY
- SWIZZLE
- CINNAMON
The answers connect to different kinds of sticks: hockey, control, and memory sticks, along with licorice, cinnamon, and swizzle sticks. There is a spelling discrepancy in published answer guides: TechRadar lists SWIZZLE, while Forbes gives SWIZZLERS. The list above follows TechRadar’s answer set; the available sources do not settle the discrepancy against the NYT game archive.
How the puzzle works
Strands is a word-search-style game played on a 6-by-8 letter grid. Players find theme-related words, while a spangram names the connection and stretches between opposite sides of the board. Theme words are highlighted blue and the spangram yellow, according to Forbes’ description of the game.
The New York Times, as quoted by Forbes, says: “Some themes are fill-in-the-blank phrases. They may also be steps in a process, items that all belong to the same category, synonyms or homophones.”
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteTechRadar’s writer said the clue felt too vague to provide a starting point, then found HOCKEY and used it to make progress. That is one solver’s experience, not a measure of the puzzle’s overall difficulty.
Quick Recap
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