NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, October 28 (game #969)

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 Tuesday'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 Tuesday'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-27-october-2026"><strong>NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, October 27 (game #968)</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-28-october-2026">NYT Connections today</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/quordle-today-answers-clues-28-october-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-969-hint-1-today-s-theme"><span>NYT Strands today (game #969) - 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… Comedy club</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-969-hint-2-clue-words"><span>NYT Strands today (game #969) - hint #2 - clue words</span></h2><p>Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.</p><ul><li>CHESS</li><li>TEAK</li><li>SKIN</li><li>SCRUB</li><li>NECK</li><li>PLATE</li></ul><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-969-hint-3-spangram-letters"><span>NYT Strands today (game #969) - 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 13 letters</p></article></section><h2 class="article-body__section" id="section-nyt-strands-today-game-969-hint-4-spangram-position"><span>NYT Strands today (game #969) - 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>bottom, 5th column</p><p>• <strong>Last side: </strong>top, 2nd 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-969-the-answers"><span>NYT Strands today (game #969) - 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="NHkABE6LeZbAkJPRUWzj9E" name="TR_nyt_strands-answers-969 (1)" alt="NYT Strands answers for game 969 on a blue background" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NHkABE6LeZbAkJPRUWzj9E-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 #969, are…</p><ul><li>FARCE</li><li>SKETCH</li><li>IMPROV</li><li>SLAPSTICK</li><li>BURLESQUE</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: FUNNYBUSINESS</strong></li></ul><ul><li><strong>My rating: </strong> Easy</li><li><strong>My score: </strong> Perfect</li></ul><p>Being a comedian is hard work and possibly the hardest part of the FUNNYBUSINESS is people expecting you to be “funny” 24 hours a day no matter what the situation.</p><p>For some comedians that’s easy, because their act is essentially an extension of their personality — but for many who craft and perfect their routines and persona it can all be something of a strain; that’s why you’ll often hear people complaining about comics being really grumpy or miserable in real life, when the only evidence they have to go on is when they stood next to them at an airport.</p><p>Anyhow, I digress. After spotting FARCE pretty early on I knew we were looking for comedy genres, although despite this I still labored over SLAPSTICK (or stickslap as I initially attempted).</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-tuesday-october-27-game-968"><span>Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, October 27, game #968)</span></h3><ul><li>ANTS</li><li>RATS</li><li>MICE</li><li>COCKROACHES</li><li>TICKS</li><li>TERMITES</li><li><strong>SPANGRAM: EXTERMINATOR</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> ]]>