Work through the levels. Reveal the Spangram only when you’re truly ready.
Today’s clue: “Track event”
A gentle direction — no specifics.
Closer — the category is coming into focus.
Near-direct — only read if you’re stuck.
Direction only.
Getting closer.
Near-direct.
6 theme words — lengths in random order
Spaces not counted in total
All theme words — shuffled
These words fit the theme on the surface, but aren’t part of today’s solution. Knowing them ahead of time can save you minutes of searching.
The clue "Track event" suggests a musical track, but it's not included as a theme answer.
Part of a sound system, but the puzzle uses the longer, specific component "loudspeaker."
Karaoke often involves an audience, but the puzzle focuses on equipment and materials, not the people.
A common synonym for a song, but only the word "song" itself appears.
a textbook decoy
The pun in "Track event" initially implies athletics, but spotting a music word like SONG or MUSIC instantly pivots the solver to karaoke, making the difficulty moderate. Once you realize the domain, the spangram KARAOKE emerges quickly as a long, recognizable span, and words like LOUDSPEAKER and MICROPHONE fall neatly into place. The real challenge is QUEUE, which refers to the singer sign-up list—an essential but less obvious karaoke term that might be the last word found. Because that word isn't intuitively musical, it briefly masks the completeness of the set, making the grouping harder than it first appears.
The clue "Track event" is a clever double entendre. At first glance it conjures images of a race meet, but in the context of karaoke, a "track" is a recorded song and an "event" is a social gathering where people sing them. The misdirection is playful—once you hit a single musical answer, you realize the puzzle is staging a different kind of performance entirely.
The editor chose to highlight the infrastructure of karaoke rather than the performance itself, picking LOUDSPEAKER, MICROPHONE, LYRICS, MUSIC, QUEUE, and SONG. This set covers the venue's physical gear, the content a singer interacts with, and the social queue that organizes the night. By avoiding words like "singer" or "stage," the puzzle stays firmly on the tangible elements that make the activity function, creating a cohesive snapshot of a karaoke setup.
