Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 19, #291

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 and Connections puzzles.

The title of today’s Strands puzzle had me humming a certain Steve Winwood song. And that’s fitting, because there’s a musical twist to today’s topic. That should set you down the right path, but if you need more hints and answers for today’s Strands puzzle, read on.

Also, 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: Roll with it.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Spotify will play these for you.

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:

• PORE, META, GALE, GALES, LAME, TIES, LATE, VEIN, VEINS, RENT, VITA, VITAL, NATIVE, PREM, MARK

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’ve got 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:

• METAL, GLAM, PUNK, GRUNGE, ALTERNATIVE, PROGRESSIVE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is ROCKING. To find it, start with the R that’s five columns over and three rows down from the top left.