Having trouble with NYT Strands? Today's puzzle theme is “Carl's Classics.”

Below we have compiled a list of clues and answers for Strands #167. Please read on if you need a little help, as we will start with a few clues to lead you to the complete answer to Strands #167.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #167.

The official theme for NYT Strands #167 is...

“A CARL CLASSIC

And here's an unofficial hint from me: ”A children's book from 1969.

If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words that give you valuable hint tokens:

Still struggling? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctions. Today it starts with 'H' and ends with 'R'.

Scroll down to see what it is.

It's HUNGRYCATERPILLAR.

Now, what's the answer to today's Strand game #167?

Drumroll, please.

... Spangram was HUNGRYCATERPILLAR.

Strands #167

“Carle classic”

🟡🔵

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I've been waiting a long time for a puzzle where expertise is readily available and today was it. [It's the legendary picture book “The Hungry Caterpillar” written by Eric Carle in 1969.

Sure enough, I found perhaps the longest spangram ever: HUNGRYCATERPILLAR, which manages to fill the entire bottom right corner as it stretches across the board.

For those unfamiliar with the book, it outlines the various ingredients that the titular insect consumes on its journey to becoming a beautiful butterfly. In other words, I quickly found APPLE and SALAMI, both of which I placed just above Spangram.

I also remembered the next slice of watermelon I found.

The last two were a bit problematic, to be honest, since I hadn't read this book since I was a kid. The caterpillar eats as a healthy meal after eating something less nutritious to cure a stomach ache.

Well, it was a nice nostalgic puzzle. To someone who never had this book read to them as a child, it may seem like a list of random words...

Are you reading this late in the day? Yesterday's article on Strand's solution to Round 166 can be found here.