Need help with today's NYT Strands? Today's theme, “I now pronounce you,” may be the hardest puzzle I've ever played on Strands.

Below is a list of clues and answers for Strand #276. Please read on if you need a little help, as we will start with a few clues and lead you to the full solution of Strand #276.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #276.

The official theme of NYT Strands #276 is... “I sentence you now...”

And here's an unofficial tip from me: “Accent the written word.”

If you're still not sure, here are some valuable hint words. Spangram gives us a hint on conjunctions. Today it starts with “D” and ends with “S.”

Scroll down to see what it is.

DIACRITICS.

Now, what's the answer to today's game #276 strand?

Drum roll please.

... Spangram was DIACRITICS.

#276 strand

“I now pronounce you ...”

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Hello Strand Fans! I can't say I'm surprised you're reading this! Of all the Strand puzzles I've played, this was by far the most difficult. I'm ashamed to admit that spangram is not a word I'm familiar with, so I looked it up (I called DIACRITICS “accents”).

I was surprised to learn that the “I now prounce you.... .” after assuming that the theme was about marriage, and after using no less than three clues, I got there.

These answers were ACUTE, GRAVE, and TILDE, and it was the last one that made me realize this was about accents. So, after looking up synonyms, I realized that the spangram was DIACRITICS because there was the word “ITICS” between two of my answers.

With that in mind, I found UMLAUT in the upper left corner and its opposite CIRCUMFLEX on the right. The only word left was CEDILLA, but I had never heard of it, so the answer was to connect the rest of the letters as I saw fit.

Whew, that was a really tricky puzzle for me. Well done to those who were able to solve it without any hints!

Are you reading this late in the day? The full text of Strand's solution to yesterday's game #275 can be found here.