Today's New York Times Strands Clues (and Solution) for Saturday, August 17, 2024 (in alternate phrasing)
If you're seeking tips and solutions for Strands on August 17, 2024, keep reading. I'll provide some hints and tricks, then reveal the day's Strands solution, focusing on the theme "Carle classic."
To easily access these Strands hints daily, bookmark this page. You can also explore our past clues here in case you've missed anything in a previous puzzle.
Below, you'll find oblique hints for today's Strands answers, while farther down, you'll see the spangram and the solutions. Take only the hints needed, scrolling gradually.
Spangram hint for today's Strands puzzle
You're seeking a two-word name for the primary character from Eric Carle's distinguished picture book.
Theme word hints for today's Strands puzzle
These are all the foods the book's character consumed.
WARNING: Spoilers are forthcoming for today's Strands puzzle!
Now, let's disclose the answers to today's Strands puzzle.
Spangram for today's Strands
Today's spangram is HUNGRYCATERPILLAR.
Theme words for today's Strands
The theme words today are: SALAMI, APPLE, PICKLE, WATERMELON, CAKE.
Below is the layout of the finished board:
Credit: Strands/NYT## Solving today's Strands
This puzzle theme reminds me of Eric Carle, renowned children's book author. Most likely, we'll find words related to his popular books, such as CATERPILLAR.
Indeed, there's CATERPILLAR. But it's not a theme word; is it HUNGRYCATERPILLAR? 🟡 Yes, the spangram! So, we're looking for words related to that specific book.
Credit: Strands/NYT
APPLE is in the upper-right corner. 🔵
SALAMI is in the upper-left corner. 🔵
What else did that caterpillar consume? Fruits? Perhaps cake? Let's examine the Wikipedia page.
Ah, here we have PICKLE below the spangram. 🔵
WATERMELON forms a spiraling pattern next to it. 🔵
Finally, LEAF. 🔵 A pretty addition.
Playing Strands
To find the Strands game, visit the New York Times website or download the NYT Games app.
After you begin playing, you'll see a game board filled with letters, accompanied by a clue hinting at the puzzle's theme. Your goal is to find hidden words reflecting the puzzle's theme.
The spangram-centric Strands
The most important word to seek beyond the clue is the "spangram," which explicitly states the puzzle's theme. For instance, the spangram for the puzzle with the theme "Better with age" is FERMENTED. The spangram covers the entire game board, either from left to right or top to bottom, and yellow highlights it when found. Discovering the spangram usually makes the rest of the puzzle much more straightforward.
In Strands, words can travel each way (up, down, left, right, or diagonally), and using each letter only once is essential. Only one solution exists. When you correctly identify one of the puzzle's words (for instance, KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it gets highlighted in blue.
Find three non-theme words if you're having difficulty solving the puzzle, and submit them to receive a hint. Upon submitting three such words, the "Hint" button becomes clickable. If clicked, all the letters in one themed word will be highlighted for you, but you'll still have to organize these highlighted letters correctly. Clue submissions ahead of a word's revealed hint order modify that order.
Strands victory conditions
Unlike Connections and Wordle, there's no way to lose Strands. When you input guesses, they're either correct, receive hint credit, or wiggle unproductively, informing you that the word is too short or invalid. You can never run out of attempts and have no time limit.
Your triumph arises when you've utilized all the board's letters, meaning you've identified the spangram and all theme words. Like other NYT games, upon solving the puzzle, you'll see a shareable card highlighting your performance that day: blue dots indicate theme words found, the yellow dot represents finding the spangram, and a lightbulb symbolizes words receiving hints.
Credit: Strands/NYT
To further engage with the theme of "Carle classic," you might want to watch a movie or animation based on Eric Carle's works, such as "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at your local entertainment center today. Additionally, Strands fans can bookmark this page for daily hints and solutions, ensuring they don't miss out on interesting thematic elements like the foods consumed by the book's primary character – SALAMI, APPLE, PICKLE, WATERMELON, and CAKE.
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