NYT Strands Answer Today (#955) – 14 Oct 2026 Solution & Hints
- About Today’s Strands
- Today’s Theme
- General Hints
- Spangram Length
- Spangram Orientation
- Spangram First & Last Letters
- First & Last Letters of All Words
- Spangram (Click to Reveal)
- Spangram Definition (Click to Reveal)
- Sample Words (Click to Reveal)
- Full Solution (Click to Reveal)
- Definitions of All Words (Click to Reveal)
About Today’s Strands
Puzzle #955 (published 14 Oct 2026). One special word — the Spangram — spans the grid and ties the theme together.
Today’s Theme
Theme: Folk & fairy tale twosomes
General Hints
- Tonight’s grid pairs up classic storybook couples — look for one half of each duo hiding among the letters.
- The spangram is the classic phrase that opens nearly every bedtime story.
- Think of mismatched duos from old tales: a cursed royal and his love, or a slow-and-steady racer against a quick rival.
Spangram Length
The Spangram has 13 letters and is a four-word phrase strung together with no spaces in the grid.
Spangram Orientation
The Spangram begins along the left side of the board and winds its way across the grid before finishing near the bottom of the board. Like most Strands spangrams, it bends rather than running in one straight line — 13 letters is longer than any single row or column on the board.
Spangram First & Last Letters
Begins with O and ends with E.
Pattern preview (length-obscured): O___E
Note: We always display first/last letters as X___Y with three underscores, regardless of true length.
First & Last Letters of All Words
- WORD 1: B___T
- WORD 2: B___Y
- WORD 3: F___G
- WORD 4: H___E
- WORD 5: P___S
- WORD 6: T___E
Spangram preview: O___E
Spangram
Click to reveal today’s Spangram
ONCE UPON A TIME
Spangram Definition
Click to reveal the definition of the Spangram
ONCE UPON A TIME — The traditional storytelling phrase used to open a fairy tale, signaling a timeless, make-believe setting.
Example: “She began the bedtime story the way all the best ones start: once upon a time, in a kingdom far away.”
Sample Words
Click to reveal two words from today’s solution
- BEAST
- HARE
Full Solution
Click to reveal the complete answers
Theme: Folk & fairy tale twosomes
Spangram: ONCE UPON A TIME
All words:
- BEAST
- BEAUTY
- FROG
- HARE
- PRINCESS
- TORTOISE
- ONCE UPON A TIME (Spangram)
Definitions of All Words
Click to reveal definitions of today’s words
- BEAST — The monstrous, cursed form taken by an enchanted prince in a classic fairy-tale romance.
- BEAUTY — The kind, perceptive young woman whose love breaks the curse in that same story.
- FROG — The amphibian form a bewitched prince takes until a kiss restores him to human shape.
- HARE — The fast but overconfident racer who loses a famous footrace to a much slower rival.
- PRINCESS — The royal heroine whose kiss returns an enchanted creature to its human form in several tales.
- TORTOISE — The slow, steady competitor whose patience wins out over a faster but careless rival in a classic fable.
- ONCEUPONATIME — The traditional storytelling phrase used to open a fairy tale, signaling a timeless, make-believe setting.
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