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 kind of bizarre. Even after I had found some of the answers, the theme didn’t click in my brain until I was almost done with the puzzle. And 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: It follows.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Not death…

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:

• LEFT, COLE, HOLE, LACK, BILE, LEACH, SOLE, LOSE, LIFE, SEER, STEEL, STERN, FAIL

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:

• COACH, HACK, BLOOD, CYCLE, STYLE, LESSON, PRESERVER. (All words that can follow the word «LIFE.»)

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is AFTERLIFE. To find it, start with the A that is the furthest-left letter on the top row, and wind down.

Looking for the most recent regular 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 and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is fairly diverse. The topics are kind of all over the place — hope you know your movies, for one thing. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

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

Yellow group hint: Snowy season.

Green group hint: Fire it in there.

Blue group hint: Sports equipment.

Purple group hint: Cinema titles.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Winter sports.

Green group: Stat for a pitcher.

Blue group: Sports balls.

Purple group: Last words of boxing movies.

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

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is winter sports. The four answers are curling, hockey, luge and skeleton.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is stat for a pitcher. The four answers are hold, quality start, save and win.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports balls. The four answers are cue, golf, medicine and ping pong.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is last words of boxing movies. The four answers are Baby (Million Dollar Baby), Balboa (Rocky Balboa), Bull (Raging Bull) and Fighter (The Fighter).

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