If you’re looking for a trail of breadcrumbs as hints to help you today’s Strands from the New York Times, you are not alone. Comments on social media range from “yeah nah” to “horrible,” and while I would not go that far, this was definitely a niche solving experience, and I needed a handful of hints on my own to get over the line.
Here’s what the Aug. 24 edition of Strands looks like and the hints and answers you need to solve it:
‘Crumby theme’ Strands Spangram hints and answer (Aug. 24)
- Hint 1: Today’s Strands hint is a play on words. Think of a different pronunciation.
- Hint 2: The Spangram is an incredibly US-centric solution today, so it’s a challenging one.
- Hint 3: This is not at all what it’s cracked up to be.
Stop scrolling if you don’t want me to spoil the answer.
Aug. 24’s Spangram is “CRACKERS,” referring to various types of baked goods and cookies. Outside the US, biscuits might be a more familiar way of phrasing to you. The solutions to this puzzle feature various types of crackers, which we will discuss below. As for the Spangram, it starts from the “C” in the fifth row of the left column and ends on the “S” in the seventh row of the right column.
As for all the answers and solutions—again, you need to identify various cracker types. Which is tough if you are not familiar with the naming at all. Without it, you may genuinely feel like you’re ticking off random, uncorrelated words.
Here’s the complete solution, with the words below:
- CRACKERS (Spangram)
- ANIMAL
- SALTINE
- GOLDFISH
- WATER
- RICE
- SODA
- OYSTER
‘Crumby theme’ Strands (Aug. 24) difficulty rating and solving process
Oh boy. This felt a lot like the infamous Carle classic from a few days ago and, in some ways, perhaps even worse. With overlapping words in the puzzle (ANIMALS, OYSTER and GOLDFISH? What?) and no easily identifiable relation between the rest of them, I was stumped every step along the way.
Based on the clue, I was looking for either a wider range of bakery products or something related to hints and paths (thinking “breadcrumbs”). Then, I stumbled on OYSTER, then WATER, then… RICE. And I remained very confused.
Ultimately, I found the Spangram through a mere process of elimination, and even at the final step, I wasted an inordinate amount of time trying to make GOLDENFISH work. Definitely a five out of five difficulty Strands if you’re a non-US player, but reading through comments on social media, many American word game enjoyers have also struggled with this one.
Other word games to try after completing the NYT Strands
Here’s to a more reasonable Strands tomorrow! In the meantime, check out the NYT Mini Crossword, or today’s Spelling Bee. Elsewhere, fun crosswords can be found over at the LA Times and the Washington Post, too.
