NYT Strands Hints and Answers for Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 (#967): Hints for the Spangram and Six Theme Words

Today’s Strands from The New York Times (NYT) is puzzle #967, for Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, and its theme clue is a polite invitation to come in. Think of what you do when people come to your home. The puzzle was made 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 names the quality of someone who looks after visitors well.
• Hint 2: A noun for the friendly reception and care of guests.
• Hint 3: Eleven letters, starting with H and ending with Y.

Theme word hints

There are six theme words, all things you do for a guest:

• 9 letters, starts with E: to keep visitors amused or occupied.
• 4 letters, starts with H: to be the person who has people over.
• 6 letters, starts with I: to ask someone to come.
• 4 letters, starts with M: to come face to face with someone for the first time.
• 7 letters, starts with R: to take in a person who arrives.
• 7 letters, starts with W: to greet someone warmly at the door.

Solving tips

Start with the spangram. At 11 letters it crosses the board from one side to the other, and the nine-letter theme word is the longest one after it. The two four-letter words are short, so look for them in the corners. 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 October 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: Hospitality
• Theme words: Entertain, Host, Invite, Meet, Receive, Welcome

All seven answers describe what happens when someone has guests: you invite them, welcome and receive them, host and entertain them, and meet those you have not met before.

We checked the answers against the puzzle’s official data before posting. Puzzle #968 arrives at midnight.