Can I help you practice your NYT strand today? The theme isn't so obvious: "The NYT Strand is a great place to practice.

Below is a list of hints for the 57th edition. We'll start with the clues and then go on to the full answer to Strand #57.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strands #57.

The official theme for NYT Strands #57 is... "Name Drop."

And here's an unofficial tip from me: top of the pops

If you're still in the dark, here are some handy words that will give you valuable hint tokens:

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctive words. Today it starts with "m" and ends with "s."

Scroll down to see what it is.

MUSICIANS.

Now, what's the answer to today's 57 games on the Strand?

Drumroll, please.

... Spangram was MUSICIANS.

Hints used: 0.

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Hello, Strand fans! Here's another somewhat puzzling theme, but it's pretty easy if you post on the board that you're looking for a one-name musician (but no place for Beyonce, Sting, Morrissey, or Cher).

I was kinda lucky to put SEAL together during my usual attempts to increase the number of wrong words for the tips section above. Once I got that right, I quickly found PRINCE, and the connection was obvious: I typed the MUSICIANS spangram from left to right and looked for the following artists.

I saw BRANDY snaking between the spangram and SEAL, and noticed PINK hiding in the upper right corner. This left me with one path to the most tricky name in this puzzle: MEATLOAF.

Followed by JEWEL, and one left: COMMON, a name I had never heard of, but obviously was not going to be "NOMMOC..."

Are you reading this in a slower time zone? The full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's 56th game can be found here.