NYT Strands #980 for Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026: Hints, Spangram Route and Answers

Today’s Strands from The New York Times (NYT) is puzzle #980, for Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026, and its theme clue is “Disciplined combat.” Today’s words come from the dojo. Tracy Bennett constructed and edited this one. Hints for the spangram and each theme word come first; the answers wait in a marked spoiler section at the end.

Today’s board is six columns by eight rows and the spangram is eleven letters long; the rules are on our Strands page.

Spangram hints

• Hint 1

  The umbrella term for fighting systems taught in studios and gyms.
• Hint 2

  Two words: an adjective linked to war, then a word for skilled crafts.
• Hint 3

  Eleven letters, opening with M.
• Reveal the spangram

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

  m__________ (1 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 2

  ma_________ (2 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 3

  mar________ (3 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 4

  mart_______ (4 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 5

  marti______ (5 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 6

  martia_____ (6 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 7

  martial____ (7 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 8

  martiala___ (8 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 9

  martialar__ (9 of 11 letters)

  Show letter 10

  martialart_ (10 of 11 letters)

  Show the last letter

  martialarts (11 of 11 letters)

Theme word hints

Five theme words, each a named fighting style:

• Starts with J, 4 letters

  the Japanese “gentle way,” built around throws.
• Starts with K, 6 letters

  a striking art practiced in a gi.
• Starts with N, 8 letters

  the art tied to stealth and the shinobi.
• Starts with T, 9 letters

  the Korean style known for high kicks.
• Starts with K, 10 letters

  a ring sport that mixes punches with leg strikes.

Where today’s spangram and theme words sit

The spangram starts at row 5, column 1 and ends at row 8, column 6. On the way it reaches the bottom, left and right edges, covers rows 3 to 8 and columns 1 to 6, bends 4 times and has a longest straight stretch of 5 tiles.

Theme words cluster most in the top-left quarter, which covers rows 1 to 4 and columns 1 to 3. Of its 12 tiles, 9 belong to theme words and 3 to the spangram. Whole theme words that fit inside it: the 4-letter J word.

The longest theme word is the 10-letter K word, at 10 letters, and the shortest is the 4-letter J word, at 4 letters. The spangram has 11 letters (1 over the longest theme word). Theme tiles by quarter: top-left 9, top-right 9, bottom-left 11, bottom-right 8.

Theme word	Rows	Columns	Where it sits
4-letter J word	1 to 3	1 to 2	entirely top-left
6-letter K word	4 to 5	3 to 5	mostly top-right (2 of 6 tiles)
10-letter K word	1 to 3	2 to 6	mostly top-right (7 of 10 tiles)
8-letter N word	4 to 8	1 to 2	mostly bottom-left (7 of 8 tiles)
9-letter T word	6 to 8	3 to 5	mostly bottom-right (6 of 9 tiles)

Solving tips

Start with the longest theme word, which has ten letters; finding it clears a large share of the board. Keep a daily record on our printable weekly calendar or the November 2026 printable calendar.

Other games for Nov. 8: Pips, Connections and Wordle.

Today’s Strands answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you want to solve it yourself.

• Spangram: Martial Arts
• Theme words: Judo, Karate, Kickboxing, Ninjutsu, Taekwondo

The five theme words are each a style of combat, and the spangram is the family name for all of them.

Yesterday's Strands answer

Strands on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026 had the theme clue "In the blink of an eye". The spangram was Whatsthehurry, and the theme words were Flash, Hurtle, Rush, Streak, Whiz, Whoosh, Zoom. Yesterday's hints and full solution.