Having trouble with today's NYT Strand answer? Today's theme, “Prepare to be eaten,” can be tricky, even though there are several answers on the board.

Below, we have compiled some helpful hints and answers to Strand #279 in case you need help. First, a few hints will lead you to the complete answer to Strand #279.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #279.

The official theme for NYT Strands #279 is... “Ready to be Eaten.”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “Do you like carbs?

If you're still not sure, here are some valuable hint words:

Still struggling? Spangram gives us a hint on conjunctions. Today it starts with 'H' and ends with 'O'.

Scroll down to see what it is.

It's a HOTPOTATO.

Now, what's the answer to today's strand?

Drumroll, please.

... Spangram was a HOTPOTATO.

Strands #279

“Prepare to be eaten”

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Hello Strands fans! I found this question quite tricky, even when I found the answer by accident. The theme of “getting ready to be eaten” suggests something a bit more cannibalistic than what we eventually found out: how to cook potatoes.

I first found BAKED in the top row of the grid. I therefore assumed that this was about cooking methods in general, which led me to “FRIED” in the lower left corner and “ROASTED” in the matching upper corner.

However, since there was no more cooking method to find (“poach” I found, but nothing in the words of the clue above), I decided to use the clue revealing MASHED.

I see, you mean potatoes. Then it's a little easier; I reversed the spelling of the spangram in HOTPOTATO from bottom to top and solved the other two anagrams.

FONDANT was on the left side of the board, SCALLOPED on the right. Because otherwise I would not have been able to solve either.

Are you reading this late in the day? Yesterday's solution to the 278th round of the Strand can be found here.