Need help with today's NYT strand? Today's theme, “My Cup of Tea,” may be difficult for those who don't like hot drinks.

Below, we've compiled some helpful hints and what-if answers for Strand #235. First, a few tips will lead you to the complete answer to Strand #235.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #235.

The official theme for NYT Strands #235 is...

“My Cup of Tea”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “Spice in the Leaves

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

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctions. Today, it starts with “m” and ends with “i.”

Scroll down to see what it is.

MASALACHAI.

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

Drumroll, please.

... Spangram was MASALACHAI.

Strands #235

“My cup of tea”

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Hello Strands fans! If you don't like hot drinks as much as I do, today's Strands may be a bit hard for you.

I was a bit lucky when I found the word CINNAMON spelled backwards from the top left. This immediately ruled out a search for a type of tea like Early Grey or Chamomile. Instead, this was clearly about the ingredients used in a particular variety of tea.

Even with that knowledge, I needed some help getting started, so I decided to use a hint. As a result, I found ANISE in the lower left corner, and when I looked in the upper corner, I saw another short word: CLOVE.

I saw the word “chai” at the bottom, but could not expand it into a full spangram, so I started looking for options to the right of it; NUTMEG was above it, and PEPPER was to its left.

That gave me a clear path for the spangram, and I connected MASALACHAI to complete the puzzle.

Are you reading this late in the day? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's game #234 can be found here.