NYT Strands Hints and Answers for Nov. 9, 2026

Introduction

Here are the hints, spangram and answers for the New York Times Strands puzzle No. 981 on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026.

The theme for today's puzzle is "Idle chatter."

A helpful clue for the theme is: Yada yada yada.

Finding non-theme words of four letters or more helps unlock hints. Any valid words work, including the following examples:

PANE, PANES, SANE, SPAT, PANT, SIPS, SHOOT, STORE, SATE, SATES

The theme words fill the entire board when combined with the spangram. Here are the standard theme answers:

BANTER, GOSSIP, CHINWAG, GABFEST, SCHMOOZE

The spangram for today is SHOOTTHEBREEZE, spanning from side to side across the board.