NYT Strands hints, answers for August 18, 2026

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you know a bit of trivia.

Strands , the New York Times ' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search.

Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns.

Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer.

There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections .

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for August 18, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Fool me once...

The words are related to being treated like a fool.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained These words describe being at the end of a prank or joke.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal? Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

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NYT Strands spangram answer today Today's spangram is Charlatan.

NYT Strands word list for August 18 Bamboozle Dupe Hoodwink Mislead Bilk Deceive Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.