Need help with today's NYT Strand puzzle? Today's theme, “Quiet at first,” may be the hardest puzzle you've ever had to solve.

Below are the clues and answers for Strand #281. We'll start with the hints, and then go on to the full solution of Strand #281.

WARNING: There are spoilers for Strand #281.

The official theme of NYT Strands #281 is... “Quiet at first.”

And here's an unofficial hint from me: ”Strange spelling.

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

Still having trouble? Spangram gives you a hint on conjunctions. Today it starts with 'S' and ends with 'R'.

Scroll down to see what it is.

It's a SILENTLETTER.

Now, what's the answer to today's Strand game #281?

Drum roll please.

... Spangram was SILENTLETTER.

Strands #281

“Quiet at first”

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Hello Strands fans! For me, this was the hardest puzzle I have ever done.

As you can see from the huge list of clue words I found while solving this puzzle, it kept me guessing until the very end. I had no idea how the answers were connected until then, and I used four clues to get there.

I needed three clues to get my way. Each clue resulted in a seemingly totally unconnected answer. Anyway, I didn't see that WRAP, GNOME, and PSALM had anything in common.

Still, with so many letters removed from the table, we could begin to look for possible answers: we found HONESTY spelled downward from the right side to the middle, followed by KNUCKLE.

At this point I had to use another clue. I found a word that would never have appeared otherwise: MNEMONIC.

This opened the way to SPANGRAM. Of course! The meaning of the answers may have nothing to do with each other, but each begins with a silent letter.

Well done to those who connected immediately. As for me, it's an incredibly stupid puzzle.

Are you reading this late in the day? Here's the full article on Strand's solution to yesterday's game #280.