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.

Wow, today’s NYT Strands puzzle was really tough! The theme is extra difficult — it takes two words in a common phrase and relates some answers to one of the words and some answers to the other one. Plus, some of the answers are a bit tough 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: This & that

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Musical style, but some words relate to one word in the name, some to the other.

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:

• TONE, DARE, BELT, PELT, ROLL, SEEN, NOTE, CREE, DINE, DINER, POUR, BLENDER, DOLL, REND, READ, BLEND

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:

• STONE, PEBBLE, BOULDER (these words relate to “rock”)
  JELLY, CRESCENT, DINNER (these words relate to “roll”)

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is ROCKANDROLL. To find it, look for the R that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind over and then back. Rock on!