Today's Strands: Quick Menu
Need a little help with NYT Strands today? Today's puzzle theme, “Smoothie moves,” is really tricky to crack and has some pretty tricky answers too.
Below, we've compiled some helpful clues for Strands #172, along with the answers, should you make it this far. We'll start with a few clues, before moving on to the full answer for Strands #172, so keep reading if you need a little help.
Warning: spoilers for Strands #172.
Today's NYT Strands Answer — Today's Theme and Clues
The official theme of NYT Strands #172 is… “Smoothie Moves.”
And here's an unofficial hint from me: “The Science of Kitchen Appliances.”
If you are still in the dark, here are some helpful words to give you those valuable clues:
- BRIDES
- PARTY
- DINNER
- BINDER
- THERE
- ACCLAMATION
- BIRD
- CARESS
Still having trouble? The spangram will give you a clue to the connecting word. Today, it starts with “B” and ends with “G”.
Scroll down to find out what it is…
This is the mixture setting.
Today's Strands Answers
So what are today's Strands answers for game #172?
Drum roll, please…
- PULSE
- CHOP
- STIR
- LIQUEFY
- WHIP
- GRIND
- PUREE
..and the spangram was BLENDERSETTING.
Strands #172
“Smoothie Moves”
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Hello Strands fans. An absolute nightmare puzzle for me. It probably didn't help that A) I don't have a blender, B) the spangram doesn't actually start or end at the edges of the puzzle, and C) I was working on it in the extremely busy departure lounge of the Eurostar. Still, the use of three clues is undoubtedly disappointing.
When I saw the theme “Smoothie moves”, I immediately thought it would be a selection of fruits that go into a smoothie. But after a literally fruitless search, I finally thought of PULSE by chance, which made me think that maybe it was about types of food?
Having found nothing of the sort, I reluctantly had to use a clue, which featured the word CHOP. Maybe this was how you make a smoothie? Having never made one, I had no idea, so I had to use another clue, which revealed STIR. Thanks to this, I was finally able to figure out what the “Q” in the top left stood for – it’s part of LIQUEFY.
But I was still stumped and eventually had to use a third amazing clue. This time it revealed WHIP, which completely stumped me. Still, by this point the board was covered enough that I could get by with vaguely culinary terms. I found GRIND in the middle of the board, which opened the way to the BLENDERSETTING spangram.
All that remained was to decode the anagram of EUERP – which was, of course, PUREE.
I hope I'm not the only one struggling with this! If ever a Strands riddle made me feel stupid, this was it. Hopefully I'll be back in shape tomorrow…
Strands' Answers from Yesterday
Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands Answers for game #171 right here.