NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Monday, September 23 (game #204)

Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #204) – hint #1 – today’s theme

NYT Strands today (game #204) – hint #2 – clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• PINE
• LANE
• CHIC
• STUD
• STUDIO
• MAST

NYT Strands today (game #204) – hint #3 – spangram

NYT Strands today (game #204) – hint #4 – spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #204) – the answers

The answers to today’s Strands, game #204, are…

• HAMSTER
• MUSKRAT
• SQUIRREL
• CHINCHILLA
• PORCUPINE
• SPANGRAM: RODENTS

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

I’m rather annoyed at myself for not getting a perfect score today, because this is another fairly easy Strands puzzle from the NYT. But I needed another hint to get going, with no answers standing out despite the (in hindsight) relatively obvious theme clue. The frustrating thing is that ‘Gnaw-it-alls’ did suggest an animal to me, and I looked for beaver – which seemed the most obvious example. But that wasn’t there and I used a hint to get started.

Once I had that first word (HAMSTER) it all became a lot easier. MUSKRAT and SQUIRREL were simple, the spangram even more so, and though the final two were more difficult, in large part due to their spellings, I completed the game in only about five minutes.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Sunday 22 September, game #203)

• BRAIN
• LIVER
• HEART
• KIDNEYS
• STOMACH
• LUNGS
• SPANGRAM: INTERNALORGANS

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He’s also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).