Need a bit of help with NYT Strands today? Today's puzzle — "Beat the heat" — is a touch misleading in my eyes, but the words themselves aren't too tricky to find once you have the link.
Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #97, 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 #97, so read on if you need a little help.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #97.
Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #97 is... "Beat the heat".
And here's an unofficial hint from me: "'Tis the season."
If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
- COPS
- VIAL
- SOME
- PEACH
- PIES
- EELS
- BURN
Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with 'S' and ends with 'R'.
Scroll down to find out what it is...
It's SUMMER.
Today's Strands answers
So, what are today's Strands answers for game #97
Drumroll, please...
- POPSICLE
- LEMONADE
- CARNIVAL
- BEACH
- CAMP
- HOPSCOTCH
...and the spangram was SUMMER.
Strands #97
“Beat the heat”
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Hi Strands fans. As I wrote in the intro, I found the clue - "Beat the heat" - to be a tiny bit misleading, as I immediately assumed it would be things relating to moderating temperature. I was all set to find things like 'airconditioning', 'fans', 'icecubes' and so on.
Fortunately, the first word I found straddles both my guess at the theme and what it actually was. POPSICLE was neatly spelt out in the bottom left-hand corner, just waiting for me to grab it.
While I was looking for 'suncream' I suddenly noticed SUMMER crossed the board, so connected it and had my spangram. Now I knew I was just looking for things associated with the season, everything became much easier.
LEMONADE and CARNIVAL completed the bottom half (the latter of which I doubt I'd have got if it weren't literally spelled out across the board by the other words I had in place), so I was free to move onto the top half.
BEACH was an easy one to predict, and just as easy to spot, spelt out left to right directly above the spangram.
The last two were a little trickier. CAMP isn't really a thing associated with summer in the UK, but with that in place, I could easily work backwards and spell out HOPSCOTCH with the remaining characters for an easy win.
Yesterday's Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #96 right here.
