Letter Boxed Hints & Answer Today, November 16, 2026

Letter Boxed from The New York Times (NYT) for Monday, Nov. 16, 2026 has the sides A/I/E, Q/P/C, O/U/T and L/Y/X, and a par of 6, according to the puzzle data on the Letter Boxed page. Today’s par is 6, and the rules are on our Letter Boxed page. The saved list has 731 words. The sections below cover the sides, the few routes that exist, the reason this box resists most openings, five hints and four warm-up words, with the Times’ solution at the end.

The four sides

Side	Letters
1	A, I, E
2	Q, P, C
3	O, U, T
4	L, Y, X

Each letter has two side-mates, which bars 24 ordered pairs before any word is tried.

How far under par 6 can a solver get?

Par 6 allows six words. The saved list sets a floor of two, because the widest single word touches 10 of the 12 letters.

Words in the finish	Against par 6	Routes in the saved list
1	5 under	0
2	4 under	4
3 to 6	3 under to level	Not counted

The four two-word routes share one join letter, the L, and together they run from 14 to 19 letters. A first word that ends on the L is the only way into a two-word finish.

Why is this box hard to open?

Same-side letters cannot touch, so the list rules out more than the 24 barred pairs. Across the 108 pairs that sit on different sides, 15 never occur in the list. Nine involve the Q: Q then E, O, T, L, Y or X, plus T, Y and X then Q. Five involve the X: Q, P, C and T then X, plus X then Q. The last three are I then Y, T then P and T then C.

Letter	Words containing it	Words starting with it	Words ending with it
Q	57	22	2
X	86	2	23
U	177	3	21
I	311	10	34
P	393	234	43

Side 2 holds the Q, the P and the C, so none of them can follow another. After a Q, the list shows a U 52 times, an I twice and an A once, which is why the Q and the U travel together. The A, the I and the E share side 1, so vowels cannot run in pairs from that side; a word needs a consonant or the O, U or Y between them.

Side	Letters	Words that start on it	Words that end on it
1	A, I, E	144	304
2	Q, P, C	372	112
3	O, U, T	126	148
4	L, Y, X	89	167

Side 2 starts 372 words and ends 112, while side 1 ends 304. The longest words run 12 letters, and three of them tie for that length.

Five hints, light to strong

1. The Times’ own solution uses two words, the lowest count this list allows, and sits well under par.
2. The first word has 5 letters, one of 146 that long. The second has 9 letters, one of 26.
3. The first word begins on the Q/P/C side and ends on the L/Y/X side. The second word begins and ends on that last side.
4. The X and the E sit in the first word. The Q, the U and the T sit in the second.
5. The first word starts with P and ends in L. The second starts with L and ends in Y.

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
Exact	5
Cycle	5
Equip	5
Coati	5

Mark the finish on the November 2026 calendar or the weekly printable. Sunday’s box is on the Nov. 15 Letter Boxed page. For another Monday game, open the Wordle page.

Today’s Letter Boxed answer (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

The Times’ own solution for Nov. 16, 2026 is Pixel, then Loquacity.

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

Word	Side of each letter, in order
Pixel	P2, I1, X4, E1, L4
Loquacity	L4, O3, Q2, U3, A1, C2, I1, T3, Y4

3 other pairs of words from the puzzle's own word list also solve the box in two.

• Expel, then Loquacity
• Plexal, then Loquacity
• Paclitaxel, then Loquacity

The L closing 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. The route totals 14 letters; none is shorter, one other ties it and 2 are longer.

Yesterday's Letter Boxed answer

The Times' own solution to Letter Boxed on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026 was Circumvent, then Typo, with sides I/U/N, V/Y/O, T/C/M, E/R/P. Yesterday's hints and full solution.