Having trouble with today's NYT Strand puzzle? Today's puzzle theme “One for the ages” is a bit challenging, but once solved, the rest is easy

Below are the clues and answers for Strands #171 Please read on if you need a little help, as we will start with the hints and then lead you to the full solution of Strands #171

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strands #171

The official theme for NYT Strands #171 is “One for the ages”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “Much happiness returns”

If you're still in the dark, here are a few 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 'Y'

Scroll down to see what it is

It's HAPPYBIRTHDAY

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

Drum roll please

Spangram was HAPPYBIRTHDAY

Strands #171

“One for the ages”

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Hello Strands fans! Today's theme, “One for the ages,” was a bit of a head scratcher at first, and I myself was initially looking for a geographical era like “Jurassic”

But when I found the word “HAPPY” at the top and kept tracing it to read “HAPPYBIRTHDAY,” I realized this was not so academic Instead, it is about birthday traditions

Then everything came together quickly PARTY was on the bottom left and CAKE on the other side; CANDLES was just above it, spelled backwards, and GIFTS completed the top corner on the right

Moving to the left, CARDS was just above PARTY and was immediately obvious All that remained was to find the longest answer: CELEBRATE snaked in the upper left

Are you reading this late in the day? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's game #170 can be found here