NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, November 9 (game #981)

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 Sunday'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 Sunday'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-8-november-2026"><strong>NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, November 8 (game #980)</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-9-november-2026">NYT Connections today</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/quordle-today-answers-clues-9-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-981-hint-1-today-s-theme"><span>NYT Strands today (game #981) - 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… Idle chatter</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-981-hint-2-clue-words"><span>NYT Strands today (game #981) - hint #2 - clue words</span></h2><p>Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.</p><ul><li>SPONGE</li><li>GOTH</li><li>STORE</li><li>BARGE</li><li>TABOO</li><li>CHIN</li></ul><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-981-hint-3-spangram-letters"><span>NYT Strands today (game #981) - 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 14 letters</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-981-hint-4-spangram-position"><span>NYT Strands today (game #981) - 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, 3rd row</p><p>• <strong>Last side: </strong>top, 5th column</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-981-the-answers"><span>NYT Strands today (game #981) - 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="QNM4SAmMpDh4cKH3R7WcUD" name="TR_nyt_strands-answers-981" alt="NYT Strands answers for game 981 on a blue background" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QNM4SAmMpDh4cKH3R7WcUD-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 #981, are…</p><ul><li>BANTER</li><li>GOSSIP</li><li>CHINWAG</li><li>GABFEST</li><li>SCHMOOZE</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: SHOOTTHEBREEZE</strong></li></ul><ul><li><strong>My rating: </strong> Hard</li><li><strong>My score: </strong> 1 hint</li></ul><p>Failing to spot the words connected to the two letter Zs today set me back and I lost confidence as I searched the board, finding nothing but non-game words.</p><p>Fortunately there were quite a few of those and a hint gave me BANTER, which set me on my way.</p><p>Back in the day I used to be a GOSSIP editor on a music magazine, but I was so bad at it that I had to invent stories — something that, rather oddly, the people involved didn’t seem very worried about after I realized that if I merely had to keep the stories silly and obviously fake (each week, Madonna would be spotted in a supermarket in a British town she had never visited or likely heard of, for instance).</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-sunday-november-8-game-980"><span>Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, November 8, game #980)</span></h3><ul><li>KICKBOXING</li><li>JUDO</li><li>KARATE</li><li>TAEKWONDO</li><li>NINJUTSU</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: MARTIALARTS</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> ]]>