The answers are all related to music venues. Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal. Today's spangram is ConcertVenue. Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Playing Connections is rather simple. Players are tasked with creating four groups of four based on similar characteristics from a grid of 16 words. Each of these groups will be linked to a particular category ranging in difficulty from yellow being the easiest, to purple being the most difficult.