There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list,

Strands is released at midnight in your time zone. To accommodate players around the world, we publish two Strands Sidekicks each day, based on Eastern Standard Time. If you find yourself on the wrong Sidekick, check your puzzle’s number, and go to this page to find its corresponding Sidekick post.