NYT Strands today — hints, spangram and answers for game #170 (Tuesday, August 20 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 — "I think we're covered" — is hard to decipher, and some of the answers are pretty tough to uncover too.

Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #170, 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 #170, so read on if you need a little help.

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #170.  

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

The official theme for NYT Strands #170 is... "I think we're covered".

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Prepare for bad weather."

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

  • SLICES
  • PRICES
  • CHANGES
  • ROADS
  • SHOES
  • LICKER
  • SOCK

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

Scroll down to find out what it is...

It's RAINGEAR.

Today's Strands answers

So, what are today's Strands answers for game #170?

Drumroll, please...

  • HOOD
  • UMBRELLA
  • SLICKER
  • PONCHO
  • GALOSHES
  • GAITERS

Strands #170

(Image credit: Alan Martin)

...and the spangram was RAINGEAR.

Strands #170

“I think we're covered”

💡🔵🔵🔵

🟡🔵🔵🔵

Hi Strands fans. This was a bit of a tricky one. Not only can the theme of "I think we're covered" apply to plenty of different things, but some of the answers seem to be very US-focused.

In fact, I needed to use a clue to get the first word on the board after a lot of false starts. HOOD was revealed, and I guessed that this was about things covering other things? 

But then I got UMBRELLA and realized it was specifically about rain-friendly clothing. SLICKER followed, and then I followed the word "RAIN" from the left-hand side to the right to spell the spangram of RAINGEAR.

Completely by chance, I'd already cleared the top half of the board, and that left three words to uncover in the bottom segment. 

PONCHO in the bottom left came first, but I must say the last two required a lot of trial and error, as neither are really common words. While I have indeed heard of GALOSHES, but GAITERS aren't a term I'm familiar with at all.

Tricky! Hopefully tomorrow's puzzle is more straightforward.

Yesterday's Strands answers

Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #169 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.