Need help with today's NYT Strand? Today's theme is “Trick or Treat!” . - is obviously seasonal, but it may come as a surprise.

Below are some helpful hints and what-if answers for Strand #242. First, a few hints will lead you to the complete answer to Strand #242.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #242.

The official theme for NYT Strands #242 is... “Trick or Treat!”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “What will you turn into?

If you're still not sure, here's a handy word that gives you a valuable hint token:

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctive words. Today, it starts with a 'C' and ends with an 'E'.

Scroll down to see what it is.

COSTUME.

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

Drumroll, please.

... Spangram was COSTUME.

#242 Strand

“Trick or treat!”

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Hello, Strand fans! Following on from yesterday, here's a nice little puzzle. Today's strand is, of course, Halloween. But don't waste your time looking for the word itself like I did. In fact, it takes a while to get the spangram itself.

After failing to find “Halloween,” I started looking for various monsters, cryptids, and things that go bump in the night. I first found MUMMY along the bottom, then WITCH to the right of it; PUMPKIN was just above it, and I figured GHOST must be somewhere. Sure enough, I found it in the upper half of the grid near the middle.

I didn't see any more monsters. But when I found PIRATE in the upper left corner, I knew that this was not about the festival itself, but about the party costumes!

And then there was Spangram. COSTUME was pieced together from left to right down the middle of the board.

There were only two answers left, but it is safe to say that I would not have found them without this revelation: the CLOWN was left in the bottom half, and I connected the PRINCESS to the top to complete another puzzle.

Are you reading this article late in the day? You can read yesterday's article on Strand's solution to the 241 game here.