Overview
Here is 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.
Theme and Hints
Today's Strands theme is "Double, double toil and trouble."
And here is 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 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
Solutions
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, 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.
