NYT Strands Hints and Answers for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 (#975): Hints for the Spangram and Five Theme Words

Today’s Strands from The New York Times (NYT) is puzzle #975, for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, and its theme clue is “I’ve got a song in my heart.” Think of what a vocal performer does, and of the names for people who do it. The puzzle was constructed and edited by Tracy Bennett. Below are hints for the spangram and each theme word; the answers wait in a marked spoiler section at the end.

How Strands works

The board is six letters wide and eight tall. Theme words are made by linking letters that touch, up, down, sideways or diagonally, and every letter is used exactly once. One special answer, the spangram, names the theme and stretches from one side of the board to the opposite side. Find three non-theme words and you earn a hint that highlights the letters of a theme word.

Spangram hints

• Hint 1

  It is what you do when you sing at full volume.
• Hint 2

  It is a phrase of three short words: something you wear around your waist, a small pronoun, and the opposite of in.
• Hint 3

  Nine letters, and the first letter is B.
• Reveal the spangram

  Beltitout
• Letter by letter: the spangram, one more letter per tap.
  Show the first letter

  b________ (1 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 2

  be_______ (2 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 3

  bel______ (3 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 4

  belt_____ (4 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 5

  belti____ (5 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 6

  beltit___ (6 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 7

  beltito__ (7 of 9 letters)

  Show letter 8

  beltitou_ (8 of 9 letters)

  Show the last letter

  beltitout (9 of 9 letters)

Theme word hints

There are five theme words, all names for people who sing:

• 9 letters, starts with B

  a performer of ballads.

  Show the word

  Balladeer
• 9 letters, starts with C

  a member of a choir.

  Show the word

  Chorister
• 7 letters, starts with C

  a performer with a soft, smooth style.

  Show the word

  Crooner
• 6 letters, starts with S

  anyone who sings.

  Show the word

  Singer
• 8 letters, starts with V

  a performer named for the voice.

  Show the word

  Vocalist

Solving tips

Show the solving tips

Start with the spangram. On today’s board it begins on the left edge, in the third row from the top, and ends on the right edge, in the sixth row. It is nine letters long, the same length as the two longest theme words. The five theme words use 39 letters, so the spangram and the theme words together fill all 48 tiles. The shortest theme word has six letters. Two theme words hold doubled letters side by side, one of them two different pairs. If you get stuck, spell any ordinary words you can see to earn a hint.

Keep a streak log on our printable weekly calendar or the November 2026 printable calendar.

More of today’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints and Pips hints.

Today’s Strands answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

• Spangram: Belt It Out
• Theme words: Balladeer, Chorister, Crooner, Singer, Vocalist

All six answers fit the clue: the spangram is a phrase for singing at full volume, and the five theme words are all names for people who sing. The spangram is a single string of nine letters on the board, with no spaces.

We checked the answers against the puzzle’s official data before posting. Puzzle #976 arrives at midnight.

Yesterday's Strands answer

Strands on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 had the theme clue "High and mighty". The spangram was Mountaintop, and the theme words were Cliff, Glacier, Peak, Ridge, Saddle, Snow, Summit. Yesterday's hints and full solution.