NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, November 14 (game #986)

Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers

<![CDATA[ <article> <div class="fancy-box"><div class="fancy_box-title">Looking for a different day?</div><div class="fancy_box_body"><p class="fancy-box__body-text">A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. <strong>If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead</strong> then click here: <a data-analytics-id="inline-link" href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands-today-answers-hints-13-november-2026"><strong>NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, November 13 (game #985)</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p></div></div><p>Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.</p><p>Want more word-based fun? Then check out my <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/nyt-connections-today-answers-hints-14-november-2026">NYT Connections today</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/quordle-today-answers-clues-14-november-2026">Quordle today</a> pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/wordle-today">Wordle today</a> page for the original viral word game.</p><p><em>SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.</em></p><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-986-hint-1-today-s-theme"><span>NYT Strands today (game #986) - hint #1 - today's theme</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Today's NYT Strands theme is… Preschool fun</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-986-hint-2-clue-words"><span>NYT Strands today (game #986) - hint #2 - clue words</span></h2><p>Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.</p><ul><li>SPOT</li><li>SPILL</li><li>STEP</li><li>PEST</li><li>FOIL</li><li>WALL</li></ul><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-986-hint-3-spangram-letters"><span>NYT Strands today (game #986) - hint #3 - spangram letters</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>How many letters are in today's spangram?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p><strong>•</strong> Spangram has 15 letters</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-986-hint-4-spangram-position"><span>NYT Strands today (game #986) - hint #4 - spangram position</span></h2><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>• <strong>First side: </strong>left, 5th row</p><p>• <strong>Last side: </strong>right, 8th row</p></article></section><p>Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.</p><div data-model-name="Dyson HushJet Mini Cool Fan,JBL Xtreme 5,LG OLED evo AI C6 55-inch TV (2026),DJI Lito X1,Dali Kupid,De'Longhi Dedica Duo" data-widget-type="multimodelreview" data-widget-title="TechRadar 5-star reviewed devices"></div><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-986-the-answers"><span>NYT Strands today (game #986) - the answers</span></h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check="" ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1920px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="QYCZTSMETqMSds5dNdkceR" name="TR_nyt_strands-answers-986" alt="NYT Strands answers for game 986 on a blue background" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QYCZTSMETqMSds5dNdkceR-1920-80.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline" /></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: New York Times)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The answers to today's Strands, game #986, are…</p><ul><li>SKIP</li><li>JUMP</li><li>SPIN</li><li>GALLOP</li><li>WALK</li><li>TIPTOE</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: FOLLOWTHELEADER</strong></li></ul><ul><li><strong>My rating: </strong> Hard</li><li><strong>My score: </strong> 1 hint</li></ul><p>The longest spangram for months finally solved the riddle of what all these movement words were about.</p><p>My first thought about the theme “preschool fun” was that we would be looking for toddler-friendly TV characters, but that was soon ruled out — finding SKIP and JUMP made me think it was about playground games generally, but then GALLOP totally confused me.</p><p>FOLLOWTHELEADER is one of those games that we stop playing when we are about five, so I’m forgiving myself for the memory lapse and needing a hint to cross the line..</p><iframe title="How did you do today?" description="Let me know in the comments below" minimumCommentCount="0" class="position-center" data-lazy-priority="low" data-lazy-src=""></iframe><h3 class="article-body__section" id="section-yesterday-s-nyt-strands-answers-friday-november-13-game-985"><span>Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, November 13, game #985)</span></h3><ul><li>FLOOR</li><li>SALT</li><li>MIRROR</li><li>BROKEN</li><li>SPILLED</li><li>THIRTEENTH</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: ROTTENLUCK</strong></li></ul><section class="article__schema-question"><h3>What is NYT Strands?</h3><article class="article__schema-answer"><p>Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands" target="_blank">NYT Games site</a> on desktop or mobile.</p><p>I've got a full guide to h<a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/nyt-strands">ow to play NYT Strands,</a> complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.</p></article></section> </article> ]]>