NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 17 (game #866)

Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, July 16 (game #865) . Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints. Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game. SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers. NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands? • Today's NYT Strands theme is… Categorically speaking NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #2 - clue words Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system. PRIVATE MINT PLUGS GRATE TROPE RENT NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #3 - spangram letters How many letters are in today's spangram? • Spangram has 14 letters NYT Strands today (game #866) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches? • First side: left, 4th row • Last side: right, 4th row Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM. NYT Strands today (game #866) - the answers (Image credit: New York Times) The answers to today's Strands, game #866, are… ENTERTAINMENT NATURE SPORTS GEOGRAPHY SPANGRAM: TRIVIALPURSUIT My rating: Easy My score: Perfect Initially I thought we would be looking for synonyms of the word category, but instead we were on the hunt for the four of the six segments — or cheeses — that complete a game piece in TRIVIALPURSUIT. Missing from the list are history and science. Spottin