Need some help with today's NYT strand? Today's theme, “Board Approved,” is a bit puzzling, but a few answers on the board will clarify it.

Below are some helpful hints and what-if answers for Strand #283. We will start with a few hints to get the complete answer to Strand #283.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #283.

The official theme for NYT Strands #283 is... “Board Approved.”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: “Tools of the Trade.”

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

Still struggling? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctions. Today it starts with a 'W' and ends with a 'G'.

Scroll down to see what it is.

WOODWORKING.

Now, what's the answer to today's game #283 strand?

Drumroll please.

... Spangram was WOODWORKING.

Strands #283

“Board certified”

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Hello Strands fans! This puzzle may seem quite difficult at first. Since the theme is “Board certified”, it suggests that it is more about business rather than WOODWORKING.

I fell into that trap and ended up having to use clues to figure out the VISE... Actually, this did not help at all. This is because VISE is spelled “vice” in the UK.

However, after confirming this fact with a Google search, I realized that “board-certified” must refer to a tool for making things. I found “LATHE” just above it and “DRILL” to the left of it.

Then I figured out that the mysterious “J” on the left side of the board was part of JIGSAW, so I went back to the right side and added PLANE. Then CHISEL jumped into the middle of the grid.

This paved the way enough to get the SPANGRAM: WOODWORKING was wrapped from the top of the board to the lower left corner. All that remained was to connect the SANDER in the upper left corner to complete the puzzle.

Are you reading this later in the day? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's game #282 can be found here.