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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThis is the historical answer guide for Strands puzzle #159, dated Friday, August 9, 2024. The theme is “Back to nature.” A gentler hint is “Activities away from home.” Spoilers follow below.
What Is the August 9 Strands Hint?
The official theme hint is “Back to nature.” An additional clue is “Activities away from home.” These clues point toward things you might do outdoors.
Forbes’ guide to the puzzle also lists first-two-letter prompts for its eight theme words: ST, HI, FO, OU, BI, CA, SW and FI. The guide was written by Kris Holt and published August 8, 2024, ahead of the August 9 puzzle: Forbes’ Strands hints and answers for August 9, 2024.
Spoiler Warning: What Is the Spangram?
The spangram is OUTDOORSY. It connects the puzzle’s outdoor-activity theme.
Spoiler Warning: What Are the Strands Answers?
The seven other theme words are:
- STARGAZE
- HIKE
- FORAGE
- BIRDWATCH
- CAMP
- SWIM
- FISH
Including OUTDOORSY, the puzzle has eight theme words.
How Strands Works
Forbes describes Strands as a word-search-style game available in the NYT Games app. Its account says the board is a six-by-eight letter grid; players connect letters vertically, horizontally or diagonally, and can change direction while forming a word. Each letter is used once across the theme words and spangram.
Rank #2
According to the same Forbes description, finding three valid non-theme words of at least four letters unlocks the Hint button, which highlights the letters of a theme word. Forbes also reproduces this statement attributed to The New York Times: “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.”
These game mechanics and the NYT-attributed statement are reported here as described in Forbes’ August 8, 2024 guide; they have not been independently confirmed against current NYT rules.
Quick Recap
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