NYT Letter Boxed Hints and Answer for Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026: Par 4 and 33 Two-Word Routes

Letter Boxed from The New York Times (NYT) for Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 has the sides H/T/A, O/I/V, S/E/K and C/P/N and a par of 4 words, according to the puzzle data on the Letter Boxed page. The word list is the big story this time: 2,001 words, more than five times yesterday’s 371. Today’s par is 4, and the rules are on our Letter Boxed page. A count of the two-word routes and five hints come first, and the Times’ own solution is the last thing here.

The four sides

Side	Letters
1	H, T, A
2	O, I, V
3	S, E, K
4	C, P, N

The saved dictionary holds 2,001 words, and every one of them follows the side rule.

How many two-word routes does a 2,001-word list allow?

A big list gives a solver room. We tested every pair of words in the day’s list where the second word starts on the first word’s last letter and the two together use all twelve letters. The count comes from a script run on the saved data.

What we counted	Today
Two-word routes that chain and cover all 12 letters	33
Different first words in those routes	17
Different second words	18
One-word solutions	0
Longest word in the list	16 letters
Most letters of the box covered by a single word	11 (two words)

The routes bunch up on the first word’s opening letter. P starts 16 of the 33 routes, V starts 6, C starts 4 and I starts 2. A, H, K, S and T start one each. By side, 20 routes open on the C/P/N side, 8 on O/I/V, 3 on H/T/A and 2 on S/E/K.

The ends bunch up too. Of the 33 routes, 25 finish on the S/E/K side: 10 on K, 8 on S and 7 on E. Another 5 end on the H/T/A side and 3 on the C/P/N side. Counted by total letters, the shortest routes take 14 letters (two of them) and the longest take 22.

Word length in the list	Words
3 letters	153
4 letters	391
5 letters	406
6 letters	363
10 letters or more	102
12 letters or more	16

Long words do not solve the box alone. The four longest, at 15 and 16 letters, cover between 8 and 11 of the twelve letters, and two words share the top mark of 11. The V is the thinnest letter: it sits in 100 words, starts 36 and ends only 4, so a route needs a plan for it early.

Five hints, light to strong

1. The Times’ own solution is two words, half of par.
2. The first word has 9 letters and the second has 5.
3. The first word starts on the C/P/N side and ends on the S/E/K side; the second word starts on that same last letter.
4. The H and the P are in the first word; the V and the A are in the second.
5. The first word starts with C and ends in K. The second starts with K and ends in E.

Warm-up words

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

Word	Letters
Ascot	5
Aspen	5
Antic	5
Apache	6

Keep a streak on the November 2026 calendar or the weekly printable. Yesterday’s box: Saturday, Nov. 7 Letter Boxed. More Sunday puzzles: Wordle and Connections.

Today’s Letter Boxed answer (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

The Times’ own solution for Nov. 8, 2026 is Chopstick, then Knave.

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

Word	Side of each letter, in order
Chopstick	C4, H1, O2, P4, S3, T1, I2, C4, K3
Knave	K3, N4, A1, V2, E3

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

• Ventis, then Shoepack
• Avens, then Spitchcock
• Invents, then Shoepack
• Spitchcock, then Knave
• Venas, then Spitchcock
• Technospeak, then Kieve
• Heavens, then Spitchcock
• Invent, then Technospeak
• Photokinetic, then Cavas
• Venetians, then Shoepack

The K that ends the first word starts the second, and together the two words use all twelve letters. Both were matched to the puzzle’s official data before posting. Its 14 letters make it one of the two shortest of the 33 routes in the list.

Yesterday's Letter Boxed answer

The Times' own solution to Letter Boxed on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026 was Blowup, then Pharynx, with sides R/B/O, P/Y/L, U/A/N, H/X/W. Yesterday's hints and full solution.