Unlock Today's NYT Strands Puzzle: A Healthy Breakfast Delight

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Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 18, No. 867.

Need help with today's Strands answers? We've got you.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today's NYT Strands puzzle offers up a tasty challenge and a fun theme. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET's NYT puzzle hints page.

Today's Strands theme is: A healthy breakfast.

If that doesn't help you, here's a clue: Food associated with hippies and hikers.

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle's theme. If you're stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

The completed NYT Strands puzzle for July 18, 2026.

Today's Strands spangram is BOWLOFGRANOLA. To find it, start with the B that's four letters down on the far-left vertical row, and wind over -- kind of in the shape of a bowl!