NYT Letter Boxed Hints and Answer for Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026: The Four Sides, Par 5 and Graded Clues

Letter Boxed from The New York Times (NYT) for Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026 has the sides C/D/I, U/F/T, R/M/A and B/E/O and a par of 5 words, according to the puzzle data on the Letter Boxed page. Sam Ezersky edits it. The Times’ own solution needs only two words, so there is room to beat par. Work down the hints one at a time, and scroll to the last section only if you want the words themselves.

How Letter Boxed works

You get twelve letters, three on each side of a square. Make words of at least three letters by connecting letters, and never use two letters from the same side one after the other. Each new word must start with the last letter of the word before it. Every letter has to be used at least once, and the goal is to finish within par. A new puzzle comes out each day.

What are today’s four sides?

Side	Letters
1	C, D, I
2	U, F, T
3	R, M, A
4	B, E, O

Par is 5 words. The puzzle data lists 1,277 dictionary words that fit this box without breaking the side rule, so many short words are available as a warm-up.

Seven hints, gentle to strong

1. Count: the Times’ own solution uses two words, which is three fewer than par.
2. Length: both words have 9 letters.
3. First word: it names a microbe.
4. Second word: it describes someone who feels extremely embarrassed.
5. Link: the first word ends in M, and the second word starts with M.
6. First letters: the first word starts with B and the second starts with M.
7. Strong nudge: the first word begins “Bac” and the second begins “Mort”.

Tips for today’s box

Two long words that share a joining letter can cover all twelve letters at once, which is how the Times’ solution stays under par. If you cannot find that pair, a chain of shorter words still counts as long as it ends within 5 words.

These words fit the box and the side rule, and none of them is part of the Times’ own solution. They are handy for testing a route.

Word	Letters
Bird	4
Code	4
Dumb	4
Memo	4
Motor	5
Crumb	5

Keep your streak on our printable weekly calendar or the October 2026 printable calendar.

More of Tuesday’s games: Spelling Bee hints, Wordle hints and Connections hints.

Today’s Letter Boxed answer (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

The Times’ own solution for Oct. 27, 2026 is Bacterium, then Mortified.

The two words follow every rule. Using the side numbers from the table above, the route through each word looks like this:

Word	Side of each letter, in order
Bacterium	B4, A3, C1, T2, E4, R3, I1, U2, M3
Mortified	M3, O4, R3, T2, I1, F2, I1, E4, D1

Bacterium ends in M, so Mortified can start with it. Together they use all twelve letters: B, A, C, T, E, R, I, U, M, O, F and D. We checked both words against the puzzle’s official data before posting. Other valid solutions can exist; this is the one The New York Times shows after you solve the puzzle.