Having trouble with the NYT Strand puzzle? Today's puzzle, "Best in Show," isn't too hard to decipher, but the spangrams may be a bit more challenging

Below is a list of clues and answers for Strands #70 Start with a few clues to get the full answer for Strands #70

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strands #70

The official theme for NYT Strands #71 is Best in Show

And here's an unofficial tip from me: man's best friend

If you're still in the dark, here are some handy words that give you valuable hint tokens:

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctive words Today it starts with "D" and ends with "E"

Scroll down to see what it is

DOGPILE

Now, what's the answer to today's game of 71 on the Strand?

Drumroll, please

Spangram was a DOGPILE

Hints used: 1 ?

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Hey Strand fans This is a bit of a deceptive puzzle The theme of dog breeds was immediately obvious, but the spangram kept me guessing for quite a while

Still, picking a breed was pretty easy at first: BEAGLE was hidden in the lower right corner and immediately jumped out at me, followed by POODLE to its left; I thought HOUND might be part of another word, but it wasn't, and I was right

I next found HUSKY spelled backwards on the left and realized what the mysterious "X" was: BOXER COLLIE then confirmed my suspicion that the spangram begins with DOG

But I was puzzled as to how the spangram ended In desperation, I tried both "dogidle" and "dogpride," thinking they might be unfamiliar events for dog lovers, but neither came up, so in the end I could not decipher the final answer from the remaining letters and had to use the first clue

When the answer to that riddle came up as SHEPHERD, a process of elimination revealed that the spangram was DOGPILE

A bit of a tricky puzzle, but fun!

Reading this late in the day? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's game 70 can be found here