Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is tough, but in the end, it’s a fun one. And the spangram makes a fun themed shape! Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: For a rainy day

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Singin’ in the rain.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• CANT, CALL, ROUT, RILE, SIRE, LIRE, BAIL, MAIL, TALL, MALL, HALL, BAND, PANE, TAPAS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• RIBS, VENT, PANEL, SHAFT, BUTTON, CANOPY, HANDLE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is UMBRELLATERM. To find it, start with the U that is three letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind up, forming … kind of an umbrella shape?

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features one of those infamous purple-category topics, where you have to play around with adding letters to words. It’s fun, but challenging. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Not real.

Green group hint: Fool with.

Blue group hint: Enterprise is another one.

Purple group hint: Snack foods, but with a twist.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Imitation.

Green group: Play around (with).

Blue group: Car rental companies.

Purple group: Snack brands plus starting letter.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is imitation. The four answers are dummy, ersatz, faux and mock.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is play around (with). The four answers are futz, mess, tinker and toy.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is car rental companies. The four answers are Avis, Budget, Dollar and Hertz.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is snack brands plus starting letter. The four answers are Fritz (ritz), plays (Lays), truffles (Ruffles) and Utz (yutz).

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Why this deal matters

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