SCRAMBLE puzzle #9, November 5, 2026

Thursday's anagram puzzle gave the letters I S D A T N T. The long word that uses all 7 of them was DISTANT.

The next-longest words

• TAINTS: Plural or verb form of taint (noun): the state of being contaminated
• TITANS: Plural or verb form of titan (noun): a person of exceptional importance and...
• ANTIS: Plural or verb form of anti (noun): a person who is opposed (to an action...
• SAINT: noun: a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization
• SATIN: noun: a smooth fabric of silk or rayon

How many words: the puzzle accepts 46 words in all: 1 of 7 letters, 2 of 6 letters, 10 of 5 letters, 16 of 4 letters, 17 of 3 letters.

What DISTANT means: adjective: separated in space or coming from or going to a distance.

Tip for this rack: it has two vowels and five consonants. Try the common starts and endings first, then see which letters are left.

Notes on the words, with sources

• Meaning of DISTANT (adjective): Far off (physically, logically or mentally).
• Origin of DISTANT: Inherited from Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns.
• Meaning of TAINT (noun): A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food.
• Origin of TAINT: From Middle French teint, from Old French teint (past participle of teindre (“to dye, to tinge”)), from Latin tinctum (past participle of tingere); compare tint.
• Meaning of TITAN (noun): Something or someone of very large stature, greatness, or godliness.

Sources: Wiktionary: distant (revision 93689977, read 2026-11-06); Wiktionary: taint (revision 93726704, read 2026-11-06); Wiktionary: titan (revision 94574882, read 2026-11-06). Text from Wiktionary and Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, edited by their contributors.