Work through the levels. Reveal the Spangram only when you’re truly ready.
Today’s clue: “Victory lap”
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.
Feels like an obvious fit for the theme, but today's set is narrower and more specific.
A classic symbol of winning that frequently appears with other victory keepsakes, but it is not on the board.
Suggests the metal associated with top achievement, yet not included as its own entry.
Strongly tied to champions, but it names a place rather than an object that is awarded.
a textbook decoy
The 4.5 difficulty is driven by a clue that clearly signals winning but a grid that forces solvers to filter out generic near-synonym decoys like AWARD and RIBBON. Once MEDAL or TROPHY falls, the rest of the set—CROWN, PRIZE, PENNANT, and LAURELS—snaps into focus because every answer is a one-word token of victory. The spangram WEHAVEAWINNER is less obvious at first because it is a full phrase rather than a single noun, but its central span reads cleanly once you stop expecting a word. LAURELS is the last to feel natural, since it is more figurative than the physical awards around it.
At first, 'Victory lap' sounds like the celebratory jog after a race, but it is really a nudge toward the entire winner's aftermath. The spangram WEHAVEAWINNER captures the exact moment of declaration, while the theme words CROWN, LAURELS, MEDAL, PENNANT, PRIZE, and TROPHY name the spoils and symbols that follow. In hindsight the clue is less about motion and more about the pause after a win, where all the hardware and honors appear.
Tracy Bennett's set gathers one-word tokens of victory rather than naming specific games or athletes. Mixing physical objects—CROWN, MEDAL, PENNANT, TROPHY—with the more abstract PRIZE and classical LAURELS keeps the board from becoming a plain equipment list. The spangram WEHAVEAWINNER supplies the declaration that turns those tokens into proof. That blend is elegant because the category is obvious but the boundaries are fuzzy enough to make decoys like RIBBON truly tempting.
