NYT Strands Hints and Answers for Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026 (#970): Hints for the Spangram and Eight Theme Words

Today’s Strands from The New York Times (NYT) is puzzle #970, for Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, and its theme clue is “Double, double toil and trouble.” That line is spoken by the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and it fits a Halloween week. The puzzle was constructed by Jen Scheerer 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 the vessel in which the witches’ brew is made.
• Hint 2

  A large pot, often pictured over a fire.
• Hint 3

  Eight letters, starting with C and ending with N.

Theme word hints

There are eight theme words, all things that go into the brew:

• 5 letters, starts with B

  a red liquid.
• 6 letters, starts with B

  a small ball of air that rises and pops.
• 4 letters, starts with F

  what heats the pot.
• 6 letters, starts with L

  a small reptile.
• 4 letters, starts with N

  a small amphibian.
• 5 letters, starts with S

  a legless reptile.
• 6 letters, starts with T

  a body part used for tasting and speaking.
• 4 letters, starts with W

  a soft, legless creature that lives in soil.

Solving tips

Start with the spangram. At eight letters it crosses the board from one side to the other; on today’s board it begins at the left edge and reaches the right edge. The clue is the best shortcut, because every theme word is something you could picture near a pot over a fire. Four theme words have only four letters, so look for them once the longer words are out of the way. 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: Cauldron
• Theme words: Blood, Bubble, Fire, Lizard, Newt, Snake, Tongue, Worm

All nine answers fit the clue: the cauldron is the pot, and the eight theme words are things named for the brew.

We checked the answers against the puzzle’s official data before posting. Puzzle #971 arrives at midnight.