Today's Strands Sports Edition is live for Sunday, October 25, 2026 (Puzzle #5). 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: "Kick it up a notch"
What It Really Means
The prompt points to soccer. Look for team names, rather than players or on-field techniques.
Think About...
- Soccer in the Pacific Northwest.
- Club badges seen around New England.
- The professional game in the Rocky Mountains.
Spangram Clues
Orientation: Left to right across the board
Letter Count: 9 letters
Starting Zone: Row 6, letter 6
Progressive Spangram Hints
Hint 1 (Gentle): These clubs share a competition.
Hint 2 (Warmer): Think of the clubs in America's top professional women's soccer league.
Hint 3 (Almost There): First letter is N, last letter is S
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NWSLTEAMS
Word-by-Word Hints
Solve as many as you can before peeking. Each word includes escalating clues.
Word 1
Vague: A soccer club with a prickly botanical identity.
Closer: Portland's women's soccer club takes its name from the sharp parts of a rose.
Letter Clue: Starts with T, 6 letters total
Answer
THORNS
Word 2
Vague: A soccer club whose name suggests a quick burst of speed.
Closer: Houston's women's soccer club has a name that also means a short sprint.
Letter Clue: Starts with D, 4 letters total
Answer
DASH
Word 3
Vague: A coastal soccer club with an ocean-inspired name.
Closer: San Diego's women's soccer club borrows its name from the surf.
Letter Clue: Starts with W, 4 letters total
Answer
WAVE
Word 4
Vague: A soccer club whose name evokes moving water.
Closer: Kansas City's women's soccer club has a name for water flowing through a river.
Letter Clue: Starts with C, 7 letters total
Answer
CURRENT
Word 5
Vague: A soccer club named for something enduring that gets passed down.
Closer: Boston's women's soccer club has a name for the lasting influence someone leaves behind.
Letter Clue: Starts with L, 6 letters total
Answer
LEGACY
Word 6
Vague: A soccer club with a name that aims for the mountaintop.
Closer: Denver's women's soccer club takes its name from the highest point of a mountain.
Letter Clue: Starts with S, 6 letters total
Answer
SUMMIT
Word 7
Vague: A soccer club whose name suggests enthusiasm and resolve.
Closer: Washington's women's soccer club has a name that also means team morale.
Letter Clue: Starts with S, 6 letters total
Answer
SPIRIT
Full Answers
Spangram: NWSLTEAMS
Theme Words:
- THORNS
- DASH
- WAVE
- CURRENT
- LEGACY
- SUMMIT
- SPIRIT
Puzzle Debrief
Difficulty Rating: Medium, familiar vocabulary becomes a tougher search when you need to recognize it as soccer club names.
Trickiest Word: SUMMIT is my pick, because its double M makes it easy to stop tracing a letter too soon.
Our Take: The soccer prompt gives you a foothold, and NWSLTEAMS supplies the precise connection. Words like DASH and CURRENT work well here because their everyday meanings can distract from their identities as club names.