The NYT Strands Hints Today Check Answers-22 November 2025.

Last updated on November 25th, 2025 at 05:05 am

Ok, I understand – you are looking at the grid in Strands today, and that Ivy League is either coming together like sense or is as senseless as all. I’ve been there. And hereby without the vexation break this puzzle.

Table of Contents

What’s Today’s Theme?

The hint in the theme of November 22, 2025 is “Academics, athletics” or “Working body, not mind. The thing is this: you are searching after Ivy league university mascots. This one is a stumbling block in case you are not used to American college sports.

The level of difficulty is 2 out of 5 which is not very challenging when one is aware of what they are seeking.

The Spangram You Need

Who am I? find SPORTSTEAM. Your spangram, and this runs to the top, and downwards. It begins with letters CO, in the top of grid.

Herein lies the reason this is important: once you are able to make the spangram, you have almost half the puzzle. It is much easier to find the rest of the words since you are aware of those letters which had been previously used.

Today’s Complete Answer List

Ok, there you have all the seven theme words:

LIONS – The mascot of Columbia University.
TIGERS Princeton University team.
CRIMSON – The mascot and the color of Harvard.
BULLDOGS – the athletic brand of Yale.
BEARS – Brown college mascot.
QUAKERS – the name of the team of the University of Pennsylvania.
SPORTSTEAM – Thy spangram (the connector).

Instant Strategy When you are lost.

Start with the corners. This is always the case with me, as corner letters can only link in five directions as opposed to eight. It is nothing but math- you have a less number of possibilities to solve.

And what is more, when you find such rare letters as Q (Hello, QUAKERS) they are your bread and butter. Rare letters do not have a high number of connecting options, and therefore, they assist in nailing the words quicker.

Require More Hints and Not Spoilers?

In case you want to solve it yourself but you need some encouraging factor, attempt to do the following:

Consider what Ivy League Colleges consist of. You have Harvard, Yale, Princeton, what do they call their athletic teams? That is what you are mentally starting with.

Here the theme is not metaphorical. It’s pretty literal. We are not speaking about hypothetical things: mascots and team names.

How the Hint System Works

Cool protected by the way, the Strands do not punish you when you use hints. You can have one hint on every three non-themes words (4+ letters) you locate. The hint discloses the letters of a word of the theme sequentially.

So when you are truly stuck get on finding any random valid words. TEEN.–S. P. O. T. L. A. M.–whatever. Three of them, and there you are, you have help.

The Puzzle about the Whys that Vegas Trips People Up at the Present.

The catch? This is the puzzle that depends on your knowledge about American university sports culture. When you are not international or simply not a college sports fan, titles such as QUAKERS or CRIMSON may not immediately scare you off.

But that is just why I have it dissecting here. When you are aware of what you want, it clicks very quickly.

My Take on Today’s Challenge

Frankly speaking, this is not very difficult with the context. The difficulty level of 2/5 is adequate. It is not playing any kind of word game or metaphoric names with it– just plain mascot names.

I searched TIGERS first (no wonder Princeton comes into my mind, very fast), then reversed to locate SPORTSTEAM. When I had that vertical spangram brought to bear the rest was a snap in perhaps 5 minutes.

Final Thoughts

You can waste time on the complete answers or you could have been you know, stuck in the middle of the line, you know. Strands is supposed to disfavor but just. Vibes will burst you on some days, you’ll have to rock in reviving you on other days–and it’s all right.

The puzzle of tomorrow is being released at midnight and one just does not know what theme they will unleash on us next. But for today? Everything that you want is here.

have a pleasant time solving, and keep in mind–not a single letter will be used twice. When something does not work, make sure you look at your letter usage. It is normally where things go wrong.