You come to The Atlantic for the articles; you stay for the addiction that is the “Atlantic Games.” It’s the daily ritual for thousands of problem-solvers looking to flex their logic muscles over coffee. But let’s face it: nothing ruins the vibe like a crossword clue that simply won’t click. Don’t let a single obscure trivia question break your streak. We’ve cracked the codes, solved the ciphers, and filled the brackets, so you don’t have to stress. Here is your daily answer key for the Bracket City, Crossword, Fluxis, and Stacks.
Table of Contents
Today’s The Atlantic Daily Crossword Answer for December 21, 2025
The Atlantic Crossword is a shapeshifting challenge. It starts the week as a bite-sized 5×5 “mini” on Mondays and grows progressively larger and more diabolical each day, culminating in a large themeless grid on Sundays. That being said, here are the answers for today’s Crossword:
Click to reveal Across Answers
- 1 Across: Palindromic family nickname – APPA
- 5 Across: Island province that introduced a tourist tax in 2024 – BALI
- 9 Across: Massive and colossal, e.g. – SIZES
- 14 Across: “About me” blurbs – BIOS
- 15 Across: It’s celebrated with a flag that’s light blue, pink, and white – TRANSPRIDE
- 17 Across: Something taken on the way into the office? – OATH
- 18 Across: “You know it!” – DARNTOOTIN
- 19 Across: Charting artists?: abbr. – RNS
- 20 Across: Assata Shakur’s place of exile – CUBA
- 21 Across: Get the soap off of – RINSE
- 22 Across: Utter malarkey, for short – TOTALBS
- 24 Across: Half of a Disney duo – LILO
- 25 Across: Sights in some midwestern skylines – SILOS
- 26 Across: Try to be friendly, maybe – MAKENICE
- 30 Across: Bird that’s an Aboriginal culture hero – CROW
- 31 Across: Getting chips, maybe? – SOBER
- 32 Across: Slaughterhouse-Five subject – WAR
- 33 Across: Element next to carbon on the periodic table – BORON
- 34 Across: It’s inspired – AWE
- 35 Across: Downward dog, for one – ASANA
- 37 Across: “What ___ we?” – ARE
- 38 Across: Ride in the desert, maybe – CAMEL
- 40 Across: Alphabetical middle of seven – LUST
- 41 Across: 2021 memoir by Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell – HERHONOR
- 43 Across: Good name for a lion? – DENNY
- 44 Across: Tañón or Tokarczuk – OLGA
- 45 Across: Chips whose concept is rumored to have originated at Disneyland – DORITOS
- 47 Across: Used the five-finger discount – STOLE
- 49 Across: Russian “no” – NYET
- 50 Across: “Could you repeat that?” – HUH
- 51 Across: Apt play for the 49ers? – SHOVELPASS
- 53 Across: “Dame un ___” (Selena song) – BESO
- 54 Across: “It is what it is” – LIFEGOESON
- 55 Across: Part of a neck – FRET
- 56 Across: It might get lost – CAUSE
- 57 Across: “The World We ___ Is Us” (Alice Walker poem) – WANT
- 58 Across: Charges – FEES
Click to reveal Down Answers
- 1 Down: Call off – ABORT
- 2 Down: Key part of a movie? – PIANOSCORE
- 3 Down: Person who creates conflicts of interest – POTSTIRRER
- 4 Down: Makeup of some crosses – ASH
- 5 Down: “While we’re on the subject…” – BTDUBS
- 6 Down: Many residents of Dearborn, Michigan – ARABS
- 7 Down: Shadow of the Tomb Raider protagonist Croft – LARA
- 8 Down: The Stonewall ___ – INN
- 9 Down: “Plug your ears if you haven’t seen the ending” – SPOILERALERT
- 10 Down: Type of patch – IRONON
- 11 Down: What Charles Schulz called “the worst name for a comic strip since Peanuts” – ZITS
- 12 Down: Gaylord Phoenix author Fake – EDIE
- 13 Down: C-SPAN abbreviation – SEN
- 16 Down: Opportunity to demand fair wages, maybe – STRIKE
- 20 Down: School you might get a full ride to…a very full ride – CLOWNCOLLEGE
- 23 Down: ___ paratha – ALOO
- 24 Down: Tag—you’re it! – LABEL
- 26 Down: Word after push or riding – MOWER
- 27 Down: “You didn’t see me!” – IWASNTHERE
- 28 Down: “Is it not obvious?!” – CANTYOUSEE
- 29 Down: Chapter of one’s life – ERA
- 31 Down: Where the fa’ataupati was developed – SAMOA
- 33 Down: Dismissive interjection – BAH
- 36 Down: Two-time Olympic gold medalist Lee – SUNI
- 39 Down: Heavenly name – ANGELO
- 42 Down: Feet that go “clip-clop, clip-clop” – HOOVES
- 43 Down: “Who ___?” – DOESNT
- 45 Down: Bladeless-fan company – DYSON
- 46 Down: Small drinks taken in big gulps, maybe – SHOTS
- 47 Down: Branch of Islam predominant in Iran – SHIA
- 48 Down: Sundubu-jjigae ingredient – TOFU
- 49 Down: Org. that developed memory foam – NASA
- 51 Down: Setting of a Real Housewives installment, for short – SLC
- 52 Down: For the love of God, get on it! – PEW
- 53 Down: Person you might get a matching tattoo with – BFF
Click to reveal the Crossword answers grid
Today’s The Atlantic Bracket City Answer for December 21, 2025
Bracket City is a unique trivia-logic hybrid. You are presented with a tournament bracket of 16 items based on a specific category (e.g., “Capital Cities” or “90s Cartoons”). Your goal is to pick the winner of each matchup based on specific criteria given for that day, eventually narrowing it down to one final champion. One wrong pick in the early rounds can ruin your whole bracket. But don’t worry, we have all the answers for you.
Click to reveal today’s Bracket City Answers
- [free___ (swim stroke I always called “the crawl”) 🏊♀️] = Style
- [most babies do this before they walk] = crawl
- [word after perp or moon] = walk
- [display your caboose 🌝] = moon
- [taxi 🚖 or red wine (briefly) 🍷] = cab
- [misleading herring color] = red
- [hike that makes people mad] = tax
- [hitch___ 👍] = hike
- [🎶 Kool & the ➡️ ___ ⬅️plank 🏴☠️] = Gang
- [___ B (your backup ___)] = plan
- [_YO_ (🍺 not provided)] = B
- [when repeated, a toy consisting of a pair of joined discs between which a string is attached and wound] = YO
- [word before bean or cheese] = string
- [a dog one might squeak 🐾] = toy
- [pip___ (bully’s insult)] = squeak
- [you might try to ride a mechanical one at a bar 🐂] = bull
Today’s The Atlantic Stacks Answer For December 21, 2025
Think of Stacks as Tetris meets Boggle. Letters fall from the top of the screen, and your job is to select adjacent letters to form words and clear the lines before they reach the top. The longer the word, the higher the score, and the more “junk” blocks you destroy. Below are the highest-scoring words found in today’s seed to help you clear the board efficiently. Here are the answers for today’s Stacks, arranged from top to bottom.
Click to reveal words for today’s Stacks
- Word 1: DOPE
- Word 2: LABS
- Word 3: TALON
- Word 4: ENTREE
- Word 5: CADUCEUS
- Word 6: TELEPORT
Follow these steps to get these words:
- Start by dropping the word DECOR in the centre
- Then drop the word TENURE on the left-most side
- Again, drop the word CATTLE on the left-most side
- After that, drop the word ABOUT on the right-most
- After that, drop the word ELAPSE on the left-most side
- Finally, drop the word DOZENS on the right-most side.
Check out more puzzles :
- NYT Mini Crossword Hints and Answers
- Washington Post/LA Times Crossword Hints and Answers
- LA Times Mini Crossword Hints and Answers
- Washington Post Mini Meta Crossword
- Boston Globe Mini Crossword Hints and Answers
- USA Today Crossword Answers
- LinkedIn Answers
Today’s The Atlantic Fluxis Solution for December 21, 2025
Fluxis is a game of vocabulary flow. The objective is to build a chain of words where each subsequent word must start with a specific letter from the previous word, usually the last letter or a highlighted “flux” letter. Points are awarded based on the rarity of the letters used. It requires a deep vocabulary and the ability to think several steps ahead to avoid getting stuck with a letter like ‘X’ or ‘Q’.
Today’s base word is: SURPRISING
Click to reveal today’s Fluxis Chain Answers
- Category 1: FIRST HALF OF ALPHABET ONLY : GAB
- Category 2: ALL CONSONANTS DIFFERENT : AB
- Category 3: ALTERNATING VOWEL-CONSONANT: ABACAS
That’s it, folks, for today’s Atlantic Games answers. Do come back tomorrow for a fresh set of solutions and another challenge for your brain.
