Having trouble with today's NYT Strand puzzle? Today's puzzle, "Good times ahead," is thoroughly confusing, even though the board lists several answers

Below are the clues and answers for Strand #102 We will start with the hints and then lead you to the full answer to Strand #102

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #102

The official theme for NYT Strands #102 is "Good Times Away"

And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Before the Rally"

If you're still in the dark, here's a handy word that gives you a valuable hint token:

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctions Today it starts with "A" and ends with "Y"

Scroll down to see what it is

AFTERPARTY

Now, the answer to today's strand is

drumroll, please

Spangram was AFTERPARTY

Strands #102

"Good times ahead"

??

???

??

Hello Strands fans, the word "HEARTY" is the first one that came to my mind, and I've been trying to find another Even if I knew the answer, I don't think I would have come across this word I guess the term "party hearty" is not used on this side of the Atlantic

Anyway, after getting HEARTY, I had to get two clues in a row, BOAT and FOUL, two words that seemed to have nothing to do with each other It was a real struggle

It wasn't until after FAVOR that things started to make sense; I realized that BOAT, FAVOR, and FOUL could all come after PARTY Cunning, Strand Very crafty indeed

With this knowledge, it didn't take long to work out the rest of the answer: ANIMAL was neatly spelled out next to POOPER on the right This left only CRASHER in the upper right corner, completing this difficult (but quite fun) puzzle

Reading later than this? You can read yesterday's full article on the solution to Strand's game #101 here