That's why the question. The "Serial.print(*STRINGS); command prints exactly in the same format the library expects the time to be set:
rtc.adjust(DateTime(2014, 1, 21, 3, 0, 0));
So, the idea was:
rtc.adjust(DateTime(*STRINGS));
should be able to set the time. But it doesn't. I do not know why, hence asking the experts here as this will be a simple way of integrating GPS and RTC together.