Need help with today's NYT Strand puzzle? Today's puzzle theme, “Crombie”, is a truly frightening one for those living outside the US

Below are some helpful hints and answers for Strands #174 We will start with a few hints and then the complete answer to Strands #174

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strands #174

The official theme for NYT Strands #174 is “Crumby's Theme”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “American Candy”

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

Still struggling? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctions Today, it starts with a “C” and ends with an “S”

Scroll down to see what it is

It's “crackers”

Now, what's the answer to today's Strand game #174?

Drum roll please

Spangram was crackers

Strands #174

“Crumby theme”

??

??

??

Hello Strands fans! What a terrible puzzle for those outside the US It turns out that the “Crumby theme” refers to all sorts of crackers, many of which are not available in the UK, making for a tedious game of trial and error even after I figured out what it was all about

That in itself required three clues First, I found RICE (rice) and SODA (soda), and then I found WATER (water) in the lower left corner What do these have in common? Perhaps raw materials? I had no idea, so I had to use another clue

After this, I found OYSTER through trial and error, but only at this point did I realize that I had heard of “rice crackers,” “animal crackers,” and “oyster crackers,” even though I had never eaten any of them Sure enough, the word “CRACKERS” split the board in two

There were only two answers left; GOLDFISH was another word he had heard of, leaving only SALTINE to complete the puzzle

After three strands in a row, I'll definitely have something I know tomorrow

Are you reading this late in the day? Here is the full article on the Strand's solution to yesterday's Round 173