NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #136 (Wednesday, July 17 2024)

NYT Strands on a cellphone
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide/NY Times/Shutterstock)
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Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? Today's puzzle theme — "Park place" — might have you guessing to begin with, but gets easier when you get an answer on the board.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #136, as well as the answers, should it come to that. We'll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #136, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #136.  

Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints

The official theme for NYT Strands #136 is... "Park place".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "A kid-friendly zone".

If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:

  • LINER
  • GINS
  • MULES
  • BARE
  • PRAY
  • BEARS

Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with 'P' and ends with 'D'.

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's PLAYGROUND.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #136?

Drumroll, please...

  • BENCHES
  • SEESAW
  • SLIDE
  • CLIMBER
  • SANDBOX
  • SWINGS

Strands #136

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was PLAYGROUND.

Strands #136

“Park place”

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Hi Strands fans. Today's puzzle is pretty easy when you get the topic, but I began by thinking about the theme of "Park place" more generally. Parks have BENCHES, right? Sure enough, there it was, just sitting there in the top-left corner.

It was only when I saw SEESAW on the opposite side that I realized this wasn't about parks in general, but about playgrounds. Stopping only to connect SLIDE underneath BENCHES, I sought out the spangram: PLAYGROUND, spelt from top to bottom of the board.

With the board neatly divided into two, things became easier. 'C', 'L' and 'I' were left in a row thanks to being sandwiched between SEESAW and the spangram, so I followed it along to spell CLIMBER. That left just SANDBOX to connect on the right-hand side of the board.

Turning to the left, only one word was still at large. I connected SWINGS and completed the puzzle pretty efficiently.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #135 right here.

Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.