Here are the Letter Boxed February 13, 2026 Answers from New York Times Games. Our solutions and answers are 100% valid and accurate. We suggest trying to solve the game on your own before using the help of our website.
Sides of this Letter Box are:
EHYLSOMWTXAU
The answers are:
XYLEMMOUTHWASH
HAYMOWS—SEXTULA
MOWHAYS—SEXTULA
XYLEM—MOUTHWASH
ETHOXYLATES—SWUM
14-, 12-, 11-, 10-:
METATHALAMUSES, METATHALAMUS, OTHAEMATOMAS, OXYSTOMATOUS, HAEMATOMATA, METHUSELAHS, ETHOXYLATES, OTHAEMATOMA, ALMSHOUSES, HAEMATOMAS, HOUSEMATES, MALTHOUSES, METASTASES, METHUSELAH, MUWAHAHAHA, MYXOMATOUS, SHOWHOUSES, SMASHMOUTH, STALEMATES, TUMULTUOUS, ETHOXYLATE, MELASTOMES, METASTOMAS, MUSHMOUTHS
ETHOXYLATES – SWUM, too.
XYLEM of the OA was my first word found.
10/13.
39/44.
Good streak!
OUTSWAM—METHOXYL
OUTLAWS—SHMEXYʷ (13/2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ʷ Wiktionary
shmexy : (slang, euphemistic or humorous) Sexy.
Thanks! 😊
Outswam methoxyl
XYLEM-MOUTHWASH – kicking myself for not seeing it sooner, as I was initially stuck on SWEATHOUSE and wanted XYLEMS to work, even though I knew better. But instinct said XYLEM HAD to be part of the solution.
Oh darn it, I was trying METHOXYL too and missed OUTSWAM. Grr.
Good job Irim, ETHOXYLATES – SWUM here.
Kicking myself for not seeing the OA. I DESPERATELY wanted a word chain starting with X in my list, completely missed XYLEM. I started off with SHOWHOUSE and EXHUMES, trying to make words with suffixes like -OUS, etc. Spotted METHOXY and knew I would get a solution fast. Expanded it to METHOXYL and dropped the M to get ETHOXYL, and played around with them to no avail; then later discovered ETHOXYLATES (are METHOXYLATES not a thing?)
I thought today’s might be a singular solution, but I was wrong. I had a feeling my answer wouldn’t be the OA. I stared at my screen for five minutes after seeing the OA, totally dejected. Who knows when the next puzzle with a valid answer starting with ‘X’ appears? So far I only have X and Y to get, in my list.
11/13, 38/44
Ah, that is fabulous, hon! As a science major, I should have seen m/ethoxylates. Brilliant. XYLEM has always been a favourite word because of its XY start, so if it was going to work, I was going to find it.
Hurrah again, and may an X opportunity come your way.
ETHOXYLATES-SWUM
HAYMOWS-SEXTULA
OUTSWAM-METHOXYL
XYLEM-MOUTHWASH
*EXHUMATES-SWOLY*
*EXHUMATES good in OED
*SWOLY good in OED
OA here, but only after a couple of brain cells randomly bumped into each other and somehow remembered XYLEM might be a word after seeing MOUTHWASH.
OA. Found MOUTHWASH right away but XYLEM took a bit
OA today after a little while. But not too bad. Myxomata was one I was hoping might work, but didn’t. 42/44, 13/13, 16, 16. Thankfully, Friday the 13th wasn’t too unlucky at least as far as LB was concerned!
Got the OA rather quickly.
Also EXHUMATES* SHOWLY**
*OED MW
** Archaic adjective var. of SHOWY. In “The Odyssey” 1882 ed. It means “stately.” Also used in Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake.” And The Royal English Dict. 1771
OA, longest I ever worked on it.Matt was my inspiration today. Got nmouth,wash ,and xylem early but didn’t think of mouthwash till very very late
If not, was going to go with myxomatous showstyle(urban dictionary high energy high stepping marching band style which a lot of hbcus use)
Or washouts smylex( the Jokers poisonous laughing gas from Batman)