Letter Boxed Hints & Answer Today, November 13, 2026

Letter Boxed from The New York Times (NYT) for Friday, Nov. 13, 2026 has the sides H/A/R, T/G/E, I/M/O and N/J/V, and a par of 5, according to the puzzle data on the Letter Boxed page. The puzzle lists 1,207 dictionary words. With par at 5, the Letter Boxed page covers the rules. Below you get the sides, a count of the two-word routes, five hints and four warm-up words, and the Times’ solution comes last.

The four sides

Side	Letters
1	H, A, R
2	T, G, E
3	I, M, O
4	N, J, V

Each letter has two side-mates, so 24 ordered letter pairs can never sit next to each other in a word.

How many two-word routes cover the box?

Seventeen. A script paired every word in the list with every word that starts on its last letter, then kept the pairs that use all twelve letters.

Check on the saved list	Result
Two-word routes covering all 12 letters	17
Joining letters	T (10 routes), G (5), O (2)
Total letters across a route	13 to 25
Routes with 16 letters in total	3
One-word solutions	0
Three-word routes that need all three words	10,901

The shortest route holds 13 letters in all, and one route runs to 25. Par of 5 leaves room: a three-word finish beats it by two words, and a four-word finish by one.

Which letter pairs cannot touch today?

Of the 108 ordered pairs that sit on different sides, 19 never appear next to each other in any of the 1,207 words. Seventeen of the 19 involve the J or the V.

Letter	Words containing it	Words starting with it	Words ending with it
J	48	26	1
H	242	85	24
M	269	133	22
V	293	78	4
N	788	137	170

The J ends a single word and the V ends four, so both must sit in the middle of a word or open one. The N is in 788 words, more than any other letter. The two missing pairs without a J or a V are H followed by G, and M followed by T.

Side 2 (T, G, E) closes 583 words, far more than any other side, so most routes hand over to the next word from there.

Side	Letters	Words that start on it	Words that end on it
1	H, A, R	353	298
2	T, G, E	347	583
3	I, M, O	266	151
4	N, J, V	241	175

The longest word in the list runs 14 letters, and it is the only one that long. The best any single word does is 10 of the 12 letters.

Five hints, light to strong

1. The Times’ own solution is two words, three fewer than par.
2. The longer word has 11 letters, one of 17 words with exactly that length in the list.
3. The first word starts and ends on the T/G/E side, and the second begins on that same side.
4. The J and the M sit in the first word. The V and the O sit in the second.
5. The first word starts with T and ends in G. The second starts with G and ends in E.

Warm-up words

These fit the box and the side rule, and none belongs to the Times’ solution. Use them to test a route.

Word	Letters
Agave	5
Their	5
Major	5
Night	5

Keep a streak on the November 2026 calendar or the weekly printable. Yesterday’s box: Thursday, Nov. 12 Letter Boxed. More Friday puzzles: Wordle.

Today’s Letter Boxed answer (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

The Times’ own solution for Nov. 13, 2026 is Thingamajig, then Grove.

Follow the side numbers to trace the route on the box.

Word	Side of each letter, in order
Thingamajig	T2, H1, I3, N4, G2, A1, M3, A1, J4, I3, G2
Grove	G2, R1, O3, V4, E2

16 other pairs of words from the puzzle's own word list also solve the box in two. The 10 shortest:

• Majo, then Overnight
• Majo, then Overnighting
• Overt, then Thingamajig
• Thingamajig, then Govern
• Overeat, then Thingamajig
• Overgot, then Thingamajig
• Noverint, then Thingamajig
• Thingamajig, then Governor
• Introvert, then Thingamajig
• Overnight, then Thingamajig

The G that closes the first word opens the second, and together they use all twelve letters. Both words were matched to the puzzle’s official data before posting. Its 16 letters tie with two other routes; one route is shorter and 13 are longer.

Yesterday's Letter Boxed answer

The Times' own solution to Letter Boxed on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 was Befriending, then Glamp, with sides I/L/M, D/E/R, B/F/G, P/N/A. Yesterday's hints and full solution.