Need help with today's NYT strand? Today's theme, “In a(n)...” - may sound like a difficult theme, but it's actually quite simple.

Below are some tips to help you with strand #246 and the answer when you need it. First, a few hints will lead you to the full solution for Strand #246.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #246.

The official theme for NYT Strands #246 is... “In a(n)...” Is.

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “I'll be with you soon.”

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

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctive words. Today it starts with an “S” and ends with an “E.”

Scroll down to see what it is.

SMALLTIME.

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

Drumroll, please.

... Spangram was SMALLTIME.

Game 246

“In a(n) ...”

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Hello, Strand fans! My heart sank when I saw the theme. “In a(n)...”

But when I think of the phrase “in an”, I immediately end up with the word “INSTANT”, which happens to be in the upper left corner.

MINUTE came on the other side, and the theme was 100% confirmed. This puzzle is a good example of how the phrase “In a(n)... ”, a puzzle that ends with a timescale at the end of the phrase “In a(n)...”. So, I quickly got 'SECOND' on the bottom left and 'MOMENT' just above it. The 'J' on the right is interesting and that led to the discovery of JIFFY.

Now I had enough words to complete the spangram: SMALLTIME, which led me to the last two answers hidden in the lower right corner. I unraveled them to FLASH and TICK and completed the seemingly difficult puzzle in record time.

Are you reading this late in the day? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's game #245 can be found here.