The New York Times' daily word game Strands published puzzle #974 on Monday, November 2, 2026, under the theme "High and Mighty." PC Guide reports that the paper rates the puzzle's difficulty as moderate. The grid contains seven regular theme words plus a spangram, for eight answers in total.
Why it matters
Strands has become one of the Times' better-known daily puzzles, arriving after the success of Wordle and Connections. PC Guide notes that it tends to demand more thought than those two games and usually takes longer to finish, which is why solvers often look for hints before committing time to the board.
The puzzle's structure sets it apart from a standard word search. Players work inside a 48-letter grid arranged in six rows and eight columns, and letters can be linked in any direction as long as they sit next to each other. The aim is not just to find a handful of words but to use up the whole board.
How the puzzle works
Each day's grid hides a set of words tied to a shared theme. Alongside those, there is the spangram, a word or phrase that sums up the theme and runs between two opposite edges of the grid. Once a solver locates it, the spangram is marked in yellow. According to PC Guide, today's spangram begins in the bottom-left corner and finishes in the top-right, starting with the letter M and ending with P.
Strands also includes a built-in hint system that Wordle does not offer. Finding a word that is not part of the theme — as long as it is at least four letters long — moves the player toward a clue. Collecting three such words unlocks a hint that exposes the letters of one of the theme words. PC Guide points out that this gives players a way in when the theme words are not obvious, and that Strands places no limit on guesses, so a solver cannot be knocked out of the puzzle the way a Wordle streak can end.
PC Guide's comparison of the two games concludes that Strands leans harder than Wordle. Wordle asks for a single word each day, while Strands requires players to track down roughly seven words in the right arrangement, spangram included, to clear the grid.
Where to find the answers
For solvers who want the full solution, PC Guide published the complete list of answers for November 2, with the seven theme words followed by the spangram. The outlet also offered non-theme hint words from today's board as a starting point for players hoping to earn clues without giving the puzzle away.
Coverage of puzzle #974 appeared across several outlets on Monday, including India News Network, Yahoo Tech and TechRadar, each publishing hints and answers for the same game. CNET's most recent Strands guide in the same roundup covered puzzle #972 from Saturday, October 31.
Strands solvers can expect the next puzzle, #975, on Tuesday, November 3, with a fresh theme and a new grid to work through.
