NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, August 1 (game #881)

Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers

<![CDATA[ <article> <div class="fancy-box"><div class="fancy_box-title">Looking for a different day?</div><div class="fancy_box_body"><p class="fancy-box__body-text">A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. <strong>If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead</strong> then click here: <a data-analytics-id="inline-link" href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands-today-answers-hints-31-july-2026"><strong>NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 31 (game #880)</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p></div></div><p>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.</p><p>Want more word-based fun? Then check out my <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/nyt-connections-today-answers-hints-1-august-2026">NYT Connections today</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/quordle-today-answers-clues-1-august-2026">Quordle today</a> pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/wordle-today">Wordle today</a> page for the original viral word game.</p><p><em>SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.</em></p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-881-hint-1-today-s-theme"><span>NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #1 - today's theme</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Today's NYT Strands theme is… As if!</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-881-hint-2-clue-words"><span>NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #2 - clue words</span></h2><p>Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.</p><ul><li>GAPE</li><li>HUGE</li><li>CRIER</li><li>DRUG</li><li>SURE</li><li>STOP</li></ul><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-881-hint-3-spangram-letters"><span>NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #3 - spangram letters</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>How many letters are in today's spangram?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Spangram has 7 letters</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-881-hint-4-spangram-position"><span>NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #4 - spangram position</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>• <strong>First side: </strong>left, 1st row</p><p>• <strong>Last side: </strong>right, 7th row</p></article></section><p>Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.</p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-881-the-answers"><span>NYT Strands today (game #881) - the answers</span></h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1920px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="5eVmDQD5s6vkZgtXXMtLQE" name="TR_nyt_strands-answers-881" alt="NYT Strands answers for game 881 on a blue background" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5eVmDQD5s6vkZgtXXMtLQE.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: New York Times)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The answers to today's Strands, game #881, are…</p><ul><li>SILLY</li><li>ABSURD</li><li>PREPOSTEROUS</li><li>LUDICROUS</li><li>LAUGHABLE</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: GETREAL</strong></li></ul><ul><li><strong>My rating: </strong> Easy</li><li><strong>My score: </strong> Perfect</li></ul><p>I would be lying if I didn’t say it was great fun spotting and connecting PREPOSTEROUS, but I’m sure there weren’t many player who missed this 12-letter word practically standing out and waving at us on the left side of the board.</p><p>To be fair, the rest of the board was similarly easy to spot, with only LAUGHABLE slowing me down a little as I completed my search for reactions to an unbelievable statement.</p><p>In my schooldays, I was behind plenty of tall tales that would elicit an “as if!” response, although the thing was I believed most of them. Here are some of my claims aged nine, and the truth about each: my uncle was a professional footballer (he played for a village team), I was related to Paul McCartney (my mum fancied him), my mate Kevin's family were millionaires (they won a raffle). As if, indeed!</p><iframe title="How did you do today?" description="Let me know in the comments below" minimumCommentCount="0" class="position-center" data-lazy-priority="low" data-lazy-src=""></iframe><h3 class="article-body__section" id="section-yesterday-s-nyt-strands-answers-friday-july-31-game-880"><span>Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 31, game #880)</span></h3><ul><li>CHARMING</li><li>BOLD</li><li>BOSSY</li><li>LOYAL</li><li>GENEROUS</li><li>DRAMATIC</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: LEOTHELION</strong></li></ul><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands" target="_blank">NYT Games site</a> on desktop or mobile.</p><p>I've got a full guide to h<a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands">ow to play NYT Strands,</a> complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.</p></article></section> </article> ]]>