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Strands is fun today. I don’t know about you, but 2024 was a great year for stargazing for me. We flew to Cleveland to see the total solar eclipse at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where they played Black Hole Sun, Ain’t No Sunshine and Here Comes the Sun as the sun disappeared and then came back. And the Northern Lights can be seen – faintly – where I live in Seattle. If stargazing is one of your favorite activities, you could solve today’s Strands puzzle, but read on for clues and answers.

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

If you are looking for today’s word, connect and mini crossword puzzle answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT Puzzle Clues page.

Read more: NYT Connections turns 1: These are the 5 most difficult puzzles so far

Clue for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands topic is: Illegal work

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a hint: Made from green cheese.

Clue words to unlock clues in the game

Your goal is to find hidden words that match the theme of the puzzle. If you get stuck, find all the words you can. Every time you find three words with four or more letters, Strands reveals one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get these clues, but any words with four or more letters that you find will work:

• GLUE, GLUER, BEST, BESTS, WETS, WANE, PULL, REST, TEAR, RESTS, PANE, BLUE, CREST, PATE, PATES

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that fit the topic. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that extends from one side of the puzzle to the other. Once you have all of them (I originally thought it would always be eight, but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board is used. Here are the non-Spangram answers:

• FULL, DECREASING, GROWING, EXPANDING, QUARTER, SCREEN-SIDED

Today’s Strands Spangram

Today’s Strands Spangram is MOON PHASE. To find it, start with the L, which is five letters down in the far left column, and keep scrolling.