The February 18 puzzle theme focuses on popular winter Olympic sports.
Recognizing seasonal context quickly reveals the sports category.
Spangram WINTER SPORTS neatly connects every icy event listed.
The February 18 edition of NYT Strands Today keeps the winter streak alive with a brisk, sports-driven theme. Snowy scenes and icy arenas shape today’s grid, making it a fun and approachable challenge. For puzzle fans searching for NYT Strands Answers Today, this breakdown covers hints, solutions, and the all-important spangram.
Today's NYT Strands theme, "Cold Competition," points directly to athletic events that take place on snow and ice. The puzzle establishes an Olympics-inspired setup that showcases winter sports that require speed, balance, and precise control. The grid contains hidden words that represent popular winter sports that match the current winter season.
Here are guided clues based on starting letters and word length:
LU (4 letters) – A high-speed sledding event raced on an icy track.
HO (6 letters) – A fast-paced team sport played on ice with sticks and a puck.
BO (7 letters) – A gravity-driven sled competition with a crew.
SN (9 letters) – A board-based sport performed on snowy slopes.
CU (7 letters) – A strategic ice sport involving stones and sweeping.
WI (6 letters) – The category that unites all today’s answers.
The non-spangram solutions are:
LUGE
HOCKEY
BOBSLED
SNOWBOARD
CURLING
Each term reflects a different style of winter competition, from solo racing to team strategy.
The spangram stretching across the board is WINTER SPORTS.
The grid needs term development from sports and seasonal categories, which the theme establishes. The discovery of a single powerful anchor term will reveal the entire topic. The process of creating spangrams becomes easier when people use a brief vocabulary.
The February 18 NYT Strands Answer delivers a cool, seasonal challenge that feels timely and satisfying. Puzzles like this sharpen vocabulary, reinforce pattern recognition, and offer a refreshing mental workout during the winter chill.