Today's Strands Sports Edition is live for Thursday, November 12, 2026 (Puzzle #23). 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: "Not even close"
What It Really Means
Look for terms used to describe sporting contests and their results. The vocabulary spans sports rather than belonging to a single game.
Think About...
- Language from a football match report.
- Vocabulary heard in baseball commentary.
- Descriptions in a tennis tournament recap.
Spangram Clues
Orientation: Top to bottom down the board
Letter Count: 10 letters
Starting Zone: Row 8, letter 2
Progressive Spangram Hints
Hint 1 (Gentle): Think about how much control a competitor has over the contest.
Hint 2 (Warmer): The opposition has little say as the stronger side dictates the action.
Hint 3 (Almost There): First letter is D, last letter is N
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DOMINATION
Word-by-Word Hints
Solve as many as you can before peeking. Each word includes escalating clues.
Word 1
Vague: A decisive defeat in a sporting contest.
Closer: A crushing defeat, the kind a football report describes when a team is comprehensively beaten.
Letter Clue: Starts with R, 4 letters total
Answer
ROUT
Word 2
Vague: A win with an almost playful sense of ease.
Closer: An effortless victory, as when a tennis player wins comfortably with little resistance. Away from sport, the same word means a playful frolic.
Letter Clue: Starts with R, 4 letters total
Answer
ROMP
Word 3
Vague: A punishing result for the defeated side.
Closer: A severe beating on the scoreboard, leaving the losing side thoroughly outclassed.
Letter Clue: Starts with D, 8 letters total
Answer
DRUBBING
Word 4
Vague: A result defined by what the opposition fails to do.
Closer: In baseball or hockey, a victory in which the opposition never scores.
Letter Clue: Starts with S, 7 letters total
Answer
SHUTOUT
Word 5
Vague: A contest with a leader far beyond reach.
Closer: In racing, this describes a victory achieved far clear of the field. Think of a lead nobody can catch.
Letter Clue: Starts with R, 7 letters total
Answer
RUNAWAY
Word 6
Vague: A sporting success that requires little effort.
Closer: An easy victory against little resistance, expressed through a word suggesting a stroll and a sweet treat.
Letter Clue: Starts with C, 8 letters total
Answer
CAKEWALK
Full Answers
Spangram: DOMINATION
Theme Words:
- ROUT
- ROMP
- DRUBBING
- SHUTOUT
- RUNAWAY
- CAKEWALK
Puzzle Debrief
Difficulty Rating: Medium, with closely related meanings making it harder to separate the answers.
Trickiest Word: DRUBBING is the strongest candidate to stall a solve, with its doubled B easy to overlook while tracing the word.
Our Take: “Not even close” gives this list a clear voice, and DOMINATION brings its emphatic sporting language together. SHUTOUT adds a useful wrinkle: it means keeping the opposition scoreless, which does not require a huge winning margin.