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 Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, July 5 (game #854).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 #855) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… The growing seasonNYT Strands today (game #855) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.GRUMPROLEDRIPHIVEMOREFLUEBIRDNYT Strands today (game #855) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?• Spangram has 10 lettersNYT Strands today (game #855) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?• First side: bottom, 1st column• Last side: top, 4th columnRight, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.NYT Strands today (game #855) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #855, are…BLOOMEXPANDSPREADFLOURISHTHRIVEBURGEONSPANGRAM: SUMMERTIMEMy rating: EasyMy score: PerfectSometimes Strands themes can be head scratchers, other times they are just plain clever and today's theme falls into that latter category.With the word “season” in mind I quickly found SUMMERTIME thanks to the hard-to-miss double M, although the corkscrew connections provided a little challenge.Beyond this there were a couple of tricky words — I wouldn’t have seen BURGEON had it not been for the fact that it was sandwiched by THRIVE and the spangram.Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, July 5, game #854)POINTERSPANIELTERRIERHOUNDRETREIVERSPANGRAM: HUNTINGBREEDSWhat 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.