Chainle answers for Nov 13, 2026

Notes on the Chainle puzzle 13 November 2026

13 November 2026 (2026-11-13) was written for this site and checked by hand before it was scheduled. These answers are public because this UTC date has already passed. A date that is still today leaves them unwritten, and a date that has not arrived is not on this site.

Several rounds today use a location or a surface. Tennis and a judge share a place, a bird and an airplane share a limb, and music and a bed share a flat layer. Steam has to satisfy fire, coal, and an engine together, so a word that names only smoke will fall short. The synonym round asks for a plain size word.

Read the five rounds in order. Rounds 1 to 3 are two-word bridges, round 4 is a three-word bridge, and round 5 is a closest connection. Round 5 has that name because one clue asks for a near synonym, not a word that stands between two others. Each note below uses this day's clues. The board above plays the same puzzle again.

Listed connections for 2026-11-13

Round	Clues	Strongest listed word	Type
1	tennis, judge	court	two word bridge
2	bird, airplane	wing	two word bridge
3	music, bed	sheet	two word bridge
4	fire, coal, engine	steam	three word bridge
5	big	large	closest connection

Score bands on this date: 900–1,000 strong, 600–899 good, 300–599 partial, and below 300 pale. A listed alternative keeps a preset from 200 to 980. An unlisted recognized word scores from 10 to 900.

Round 1 — tennis + judge → court

Round 1 uses tennis, judge. Tennis is played on a court, and a judge hears cases in a court. Match fits a tennis contest and does not name the judge's room. Match is listed at 400 because the link is real, yet it does not tie the clues as tightly as court. Hint for tennis and judge: keep a partner only when both phrases were already ordinary English.

Round 2 — bird + airplane → wing

Round 2 uses bird, airplane. A bird flies with wings, and an airplane lifts itself with wings. Feather belongs to the bird, and flap is the motion rather than the part. Hint for bird and airplane: set aside the previous pair and give this pair its own reason.

Round 3 — music + bed → sheet

Round 3 uses music, bed. Printed music is called sheet music, and the cloth on a bed is a sheet. Linen fits the bed, while note fits the music and misses the bed. Hint for music and bed: the two clues should accept the word for different ordinary reasons.

Round 4 — fire + coal + engine → steam

Round 4 uses fire, coal, engine. Fire under a coal boiler makes steam, and a steam engine is driven by that vapor. Vapor is a near scientific twin, and smoke is what you see when the fire is dirty rather than the working fluid. Hint for fire, coal, and engine: the third clue can veto a word that only fits the first pair.

Round 5 — big → large

Round 5 is a closest connection on big. Large is the neutral synonym of big. Huge is bigger than large, and great often means excellent rather than merely big. Hint for big: one clue means a closest connection, a near synonym, not a word standing between two others.

Taken together, the five strongest connections are court, wing, sheet, steam, large. Each one had to meet every clue in its own round. A clever word that only hugs the easiest clue is the case the scoring page describes as a low score.

This puzzle stays on this page. A blank guess, a string that is not a recognized word, and a repeat of a clue do not spend the round. Recognized words come from the Google 10,000 English words list, no-swears edition, plus a short extra list of classroom words. Future dates stay off this site until their own publication time.

Chainle answers explained

Chainle answers for 13 November 2026 are written out above because that UTC date has passed. The table names the strongest listed word in each round, and the notes say why that word meets the clues.

An archive page is the record of one UTC date. It keeps the five rounds playable after the clock moves on. A replay is stored on this device and does not move the daily streak. The streak grows only when the set dated today is finished on the home board, for the first time.

The first three rounds ask for one word that meets two clues in ordinary speech. The fourth round adds a third clue, so a pretty pair is not enough: the extra clue can veto it. The fifth round asks for a near synonym of a single clue, which is why it is called a closest connection. The shapes repeat every day. The clues do not.

The strongest listed word is worth 1,000. A listed alternative keeps the preset written beside it, from 200 to 980, and the meaning score can raise that preset up to 980. An unlisted recognized word scores from 10 to 900. 40 is the fallback when we recognize that word but have no meaning score for it, not a listed low score. Those four ranges are read from the points: 900 to 1,000, 600 to 899, 300 to 599, and below 300.

A blank entry, a string that is not a recognized word, and a repeat of a clue do not spend the round. A recognized word does. The same guess on the same round returns the same points on a replay as it did on the day it was published. There is no countdown and no speed bonus.

Future dates stay off this site until their own publication time. This page explains the set written for Chainle.me. It does not borrow another game's clues, and it does not publish a date that has not arrived. When a listed score looks generous or strict, the paragraph for that round is the place the reason is given, in sentences about those clues rather than a slogan pasted onto every date.

Read what a word bridge puzzle is and the changelog. Meaning scores use ConceptNet Numberbatch 19.08 (CC BY-SA 4.0).