HATCH puzzle #9, November 5, 2026

The HATCH word hunt from that Thursday had three boards of 25 letters. Here is the best word on each board, with the letters laid out five to a row.

The best words

• Board 1 (S E T H O / E E G D N / I I E S A / T N Y T H / I E M W O): best word EIGHTEEN, 8 letters. The list holds 160 words worth up to 469 points. Other long words: STANDEES, DEITIES, DONATES, HANDSET, SHOWMEN, STANDEE.
• Board 2 (A M Y W E / L T V U D / H S I E L / S E E N A / D A H L N): best word MATINEES, 8 letters. The list holds 158 words worth up to 568 points. Other long words: DESTINED, LEANNESS, ANISEED, DESTINE, DEVISED, DEVISES.
• Board 3 (S A E O S / A C A T N / G Y S H O / R N R O I / B T N E G): best word CASHIER, 7 letters. The list holds 165 words worth up to 457 points. Other long words: CAHOOTS, REGIONS, ASHIER, ASHORE, CAHOOT, GENTRY.

One thing to notice in this day: the best words have 8, 8, and 7 letters, so hunt for the longest chain first. Longer words are worth more points, and the letters J, X, Z and K add a point each.

Notes on the words, with sources

• Meaning of EIGHTEEN (numeral): The cardinal number occurring after seventeen and before nineteen, represented in Roman numerals as XVIII and in Arabic numerals as 18.
• Origin of EIGHTEEN: From Middle English eightetene, eiȝtene, ehtetene, from Old English eahtatīene, eahtatēne, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōutehun.
• Meaning of MATINEE (noun): A showing of a movie, sporting event, or theatrical performance in the morning or afternoon.
• Meaning of MATINEE (verb): (ambitransitive) To put on a matinee performance (of).
• Meaning of CASHIER (verb): (transitive) To discard, put away.

Sources: Wiktionary: eighteen (revision 92413993, read 2026-11-06); Wiktionary: matinee (revision 91779002, read 2026-11-06); Wiktionary: cashier (revision 94549469, read 2026-11-06). Text from Wiktionary and Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, edited by their contributors.