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I grew up in Minnesota, so when I saw today’s Strands puzzle theme, I thought my decades of experience with all things cold served me well. This is indeed the case. But there’s an odd word in today’s answer that reflects more of winter weather in my current city of Seattle than traditional Minnesota winters. If you want tips and answers, keep reading.

Also, I delve into the rules of Strands in this story.

If you are looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword Answers, you can visit CNET’s New York Times Puzzle Tips page.

Read more: NYT Connections 1st Anniversary: ​​5 of the Hardest Puzzles Yet

Hints for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s topic is: Cold snap.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Take a stroll through a winter wonderland.

Clue words used to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find the hidden words that fit the theme of the puzzle. If you get stuck, find any words you can use. Whenever you find three words of four letters or more, Strands displays one of the themed words. These are the words I used to get these tips, but any word you find with four or more letters will work:

• wind, star, rat, hate, hatred, hat, force, ritual, hazy, rule, ruler, heat

Answers to today’s Strands puzzle

These are topic-related answers. The goal of the puzzle is to find all of them, including the spangram, a topic word that extends from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of those letters (I originally thought there were always eight, but then found out the numbers can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the non-Spangram answers:

• Snow, frost, sleet, snow, blizzard, drizzle

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is winter weather To find it, start with the leftmost letter W on the top row and work your way down.