NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, August 18 (game #168)

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 #168) – hint #1 – today’s theme

What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?

Today’s NYT Strands theme is… What do you make of this?

NYT Strands today (game #168) – hint #2 – clue words

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

  • CRUSH
  • BASS
  • BASIN
  • SALE
  • SEAL
  • VOTE

NYT Strands today (game #168) – hint #3 – spangram

What is a hint for today’s spangram?

Artistic merit

NYT Strands today (game #168) – hint #4 – spangram position

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

First: right, 4th row

Last: left, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #168) – the answers

NYT Strands answers for game 168 on a blue background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Strands, game #168, are…

  • PAINT
  • BRUSH
  • CANVAS
  • MOLD
  • EASEL
  • PALETTE
  • CHARCOAL
  • SPANGRAM: ARTCLASS

  • My rating: Moderate
  • My score: Perfect

Art is not my thing. I can appreciate it, sure, but ask me to actually draw or paint something and, well, you’d be better off asking my dog. I am terrible. As a result, this art-themed Strands puzzle from the NYT probably caused me more problems than it might otherwise have done.

There’s nothing truly difficult about it, and I worked out what the theme was relatively early on (after finding PAINT and BRUSH by accident). However, I simply couldn’t think of things that an artist would need beyond those two things. CANVAS was, admittedly, an easy one that I eventually spotted, but the likes of EASEL and PALETTE took me ages to find. Still, no complaints from me – it’s good to get the brain working and I solved it in the end.

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


Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday 17 August, game #167)

  • LEAF
  • APPLE
  • PICKLE
  • SALAMI
  • WATERMELON
  • SPANGRAM: HUNGRYCATERPILLAR

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