Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 970 on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026.
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is “Double, double toil and trouble.”
And here’s a hint: What’s cooking in the witch’s kitchen?
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- GROW, GROWN, LITE, DUEL, FUEL, FUELED, FIRES, FIRED, CAUL
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight, but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- FIRE, BLOOD, WORM, SNAKE, NEWT, TONGUE, BUBBLE, LIZARD
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is CAULDRON. To find it, start with the C that’s four letters down on the far-left column, and wind across. (In the shape of … a cauldron!)
Let’s talk about today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is creepy and spooky. My daughter’s high school just put on Macbeth, which is where the theme comes from. Even if you’ve never read the Shakespeare play, or seen it performed, the quote is a famous bit of spooky language, referencing “eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog.” Yikes! Props to today’s puzzle-makers, too, for forming the spangram in the shape of a cauldron.
