NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, August 1 (game #881)

(Image credit: New York Times) 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 Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 31 (game #880).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 #881) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… As if!NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.GAPEHUGECRIERDRUGSURESTOPNYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?• Spangram has 7 lettersNYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?• First side: left, 1st row• Last side: right, 7th rowRight, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.NYT Strands today (game #881) - the answers (Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #881, are…SILLYABSURDPREPOSTEROUSLUDICROUSLAUGHABLESPANGRAM: GETREALMy rating: EasyMy score: PerfectI would be lying if I didn’t say it was great fun spotting and connecting PREPOSTEROUS, but I’m sure there weren’t many player who missed this 12-letter word practically standing out and waving at us on the left side of the board.Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.To be fair, the rest of the board was similarly easy to spot, with only LAUGHABLE slowing me down a little as I completed my search for reactions to an unbelievable statement.In my schooldays, I was behind plenty of tall tales that would elicit an “as if!” response, although the thing was I believed most of them. Here are some of my claims aged nine, and the truth about each: my uncle was a professional footballer (he played for a village team), I was related to Paul McCartney (my mum fancied him), my mate Kevin's family were millionaires (they won a raffle). As if, indeed!Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 31, game #880)CHARMINGBOLDBOSSYLOYALGENEROUSDRAMATICSPANGRAM: LEOTHELIONWhat is NYT Strands?Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day. Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.