Today's Strands Sports Edition is live for Saturday, October 31, 2026 (Puzzle #11). Stuck on today's Strands Sports Edition? We've got progressive hints, from gentle nudges to full solutions, so you can solve at your own pace.
How Strands Sports Edition Works (New Players Start Here)
Strands Sports Edition is the free daily sports word search from The Athletic and NYT Games. It hides sports-themed words inside a 6x8 letter grid. Your mission: find every word connected to the day's theme. Letters link in any direction (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) and words can twist and turn. Every letter gets used exactly once.
The spangram is the key word or phrase that captures the theme and stretches across the entire board, touching two opposite sides.
Need a boost? Every three non-theme words you find (four letters or longer) earn a hint that highlights the letters of a theme word. A new puzzle arrives every day at midnight local time.
Theme Decoder
Today's Theme Prompt: "Go bump in the night"
What It Really Means
Look across ice hockey, American football, baseball, and college sports for team names rather than players or playing terms.
Think About...
- Professional ice hockey clubs.
- College basketball team identities.
- Baseball beyond the major leagues.
Spangram Clues
Orientation: Left to right across the board
Letter Count: 13 letters
Starting Zone: Row 7, letter 6
Progressive Spangram Hints
Hint 1 (Gentle): Think about a team's personality away from the action.
Hint 2 (Warmer): Combine a Halloween mood with the characters that represent sports teams.
Hint 3 (Almost There): First letter is S, last letter is S
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SPOOKYMASCOTS
Word-by-Word Hints
Solve as many as you can before peeking. Each word includes escalating clues.
Word 1
Vague: A ghostly identity associated with professional ice hockey.
Closer: The Lehigh Valley's professional ice hockey club uses the plural of this ghostly word.
Letter Clue: Starts with P, 7 letters total
Answer
PHANTOM
Word 2
Vague: A sinister team name found on the ice.
Closer: New Jersey's NHL team takes its name from these supernatural beings.
Letter Clue: Starts with D, 6 letters total
Answer
DEVILS
Word 3
Vague: An ominous identity found in college sports.
Closer: DePaul's college basketball teams put Blue before this fearsome name.
Letter Clue: Starts with D, 6 letters total
Answer
DEMONS
Word 4
Vague: A legendary sea creature with a professional ice hockey connection.
Closer: Seattle's NHL team is named for this tentacled monster of maritime legend.
Letter Clue: Starts with K, 6 letters total
Answer
KRAKEN
Word 5
Vague: Dark-feathered birds associated with American football.
Closer: Baltimore's NFL team shares its name with these black birds.
Letter Clue: Starts with R, 6 letters total
Answer
RAVENS
Word 6
Vague: Flying mammals that also supply a baseball team name.
Closer: Louisville's minor league baseball team uses this name, which also describes equipment swung at the plate.
Letter Clue: Starts with B, 4 letters total
Answer
BATS
Full Answers
Spangram: SPOOKYMASCOTS
Theme Words:
- PHANTOM
- DEVILS
- DEMONS
- KRAKEN
- RAVENS
- BATS
Puzzle Debrief
Difficulty Rating: Medium, with team names drawn from several sports rather than a single league.
Trickiest Word: PHANTOM is the likeliest stumbling block because its opening PH can be overlooked when you're thinking of an F sound.
Our Take: SPOOKYMASCOTS gives the Halloween prompt a satisfying sports connection, bringing supernatural creatures and nocturnal animals into the same lineup. PHANTOM adds a useful wrinkle with its singular form, while BATS neatly bridges the creature theme and baseball equipment.