I found a lot of newspapers use "the most strange" instead of strangest. Why is that? Is it an option to use "the most" instead of the superlative form "est"?
BBC: Elizabeth Jane Howard discusses Falling, one of her most strange
and dark novels.The Economist: From mainly secular UK what we find most strange about
the US of A is their religion and obsession with contraception and
abortion
Best Answer
The adjectives strange and dark describe the novel, they are used as a single unit, so it is fairly common to use “most” when one or both adjectives have a single syllable or the second adjective ends with a y. For example,
ALSO “…the weirdest and funniest costumes” and “…the most weird and funniest costumes”
However, if the noun is singular and is identifiable by two joined qualities then "most" is nearly always preferable, for example
BUT “…a warmest and loudest welcome” would not be appropriate.
Further examples:
This is what the artist calls glazing, and can only be got by practice; only the most warm and transparent colors are used for the purpose.
ALSO “the warmest and most transparent colors”
Late July was one of the most hot and humid months in New England.
ALSO “the hottest and most humid”
He has been a most kind and tender friend to Arjun.
NOT “… a kindest and most tender friend”
Grant me, most sweet and loving Jesus, to rest in Thee above every creature, above all health and beauty, above all glory and honour, … [source]
They have that most strange and dangerous of qualities [source]
As @user47014 in the comments correctly pointed out, most also means very hence “what we find most (= very) strange about the US of A is…”