Having trouble with the NYT Strand puzzle? Today's puzzle theme, “Commuting Allowance,” isn't hard to decipher, but you may have a little trouble finding the answer

Below we have compiled a list of clues and answers for Strands #178 Please read on if you need a little help, as we will start with the hints and then get to the full answer to Strands #178

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strands #178

The official theme for NYT Strands #178 is “Commuter Benefits”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “Leave the car at home”

If you still can't figure it out, here are some valuable hint words Spangram gives us a hint on conjunctions Today it starts with a 'P' and ends with a 'T'

Scroll down to see what it is

PUBLICTRANSPORT

Now, what's the answer to today's strand?

Drumroll, please

Spangram was PUBLICTRANSPORT

Strands #178

“Commuter benefits”

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Hello Strands fans! Despite being an obvious subject, the subject of “commuter benefits” was not so simple for me

Perhaps it was because some means of transportation were a bit more obscure (“bus” is in there, but too short to register) Or perhaps it was because the “transportation” part of Spangram was easy to find, but the “public” part was not clear for a while

In any case, FERRY was the first transportation I found, tucked away in the upper left corner It was followed by SUBWAY in the lower left corner and TRAIN in between

At this point, however, I was stumped I couldn't see any way to connect the spangrams, and I couldn't think of any means of transportation, so I used a clue I have heard of a monorail, although it is not very common on my side of the Atlantic!

I was ready to tackle the longest spangram I had ever seen I finally found the word “public” and realized that it could be spelled PUBLICTRANSPORT in addition to “transportation”

Thank goodness this took up most of the remaining letters Because otherwise I would not have arrived at the final answer In the UK, STREETCAR is called a “streetcar,” so it wasn't what I was looking for (although I have seen “A Train Named Desire,” so I can't claim ignorance here)

Are you reading this in a slow time zone? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's Round 177 can be found here