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The theme for NYT Strands game #178, the Wednesday, August 28, 2024 puzzle, is “Commuter benefits.” The five theme answers are FERRY, TRAIN, STREETCAR, MONORAIL and SUBWAY, and the spangram is PUBLICTRANSPORT, which means “public transport” written as one word.
The year matters. Strands puzzles are dated by day and weekday, so a search for August 28 can return a different board from another year. The answers below apply only to the August 28, 2024 puzzle.
Hints for the August 28, 2024 puzzle
If you want to work the board yourself, start with the clues in the order most players use them.
- Theme clue: “Commuter benefits.”
- Secondary hint: “Get around without a car.”
- Spangram clue: “Mass transit.”
The theme clue tells you the category, and the secondary hint points to the kind of travel the category covers. The spangram clue is the most direct route to the connecting word, because it names the same idea as the theme in a single phrase.
The five theme answers
The theme words are all modes of transport that a commuter might use to get to work. Each one is listed below with its first two letters, which is a useful check if you have found a word partway and want to confirm it.
| Entry | Role in the puzzle | First two letters |
|---|---|---|
| FERRY | Theme word | FE |
| TRAIN | Theme word | TR |
| STREETCAR | Theme word | ST |
| MONORAIL | Theme word | MO |
| SUBWAY | Theme word | SU |
| PUBLICTRANSPORT | Spangram | PU |
Some guides list only the five theme words, while others include the spangram. The complete set for this puzzle has six entries.
About the spangram
PUBLICTRANSPORT is the spangram, and it is the only entry that names the category rather than one example of it. TechRadar reports that the spangram touches the left edge of the board at row 6 and the right edge at row 5, which is a useful way to locate it if you are working from the edges inward. Forbes gives the spangram the same answer, and an August 2024 archive lists the same theme, game number and spangram.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the hint works
Strands is a word-search-style game on a grid that Forbes describes as six by eight. You can connect letters horizontally, vertically or diagonally, and you can change direction in the middle of a word. Finding three valid non-theme words of at least four letters unlocks a hint that highlights one theme word.
This guide does not map the letter path for each answer on the board. The sources agree on the words, but none of the sources I could verify gives a reliable coordinate map for every entry, so the words above are the reliable part of this answer.
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