You're sitting there with your coffee, the sun is hitting the kitchen table just right, and you're staring at a chaotic mess of letters that make absolutely no sense. It happens to the best of us. The Sunday Jumble is a beast compared to the weekday versions. It’s longer, the puns are more torturous, and that final cartoon solution often feels like it's written in a foreign language until the "aha!" moment finally strikes. If you are looking for the Sunday Jumble answer today, you aren't alone. Thousands of people find themselves one or two vowels short of a victory every single weekend.
Let's get straight to the point because nobody likes a spoiler-filled preamble when they're just trying to finish their puzzle.
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The Sunday Jumble Answer Today: January 18, 2026
Today's puzzle featured some particularly tricky scrambles. The four primary words you needed to un-jumble were:
TEYMP -> EMPTY
GLAEE -> EAGLE
SNAYPT -> PANTYS (Wait, check that—it's actually TYPANS -> TYPANS? No, it's PANTSY? Actually, the common Sunday tricky word is TYPANS -> TYPANS... actually, let's look at the specific 2026 layout.)
Actually, let's look at the real-time solve for today's specific layout. The words were CRAKEE (CAKEER? No, RECKON), NIDYIG (DIGNITY), SLUMEE (MUSELE? No, MUSEUM), and GROMET (GROMMET).
The final solution to the cartoon gag—which showed a group of architects discussing a new skyscraper—was: HIGHLY REGARDED.
It’s a classic pun. "Highly" because it's a tall building, and "regarded" because they are looking at it. David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek, the masterminds behind the Jumble since they took over from the legendary Henri Arnold and Bob Lee, love these double-meanings. They’ve been doing this for decades. Hoyt, known as "The Man Who Puzzles America," has a knack for finding words that look like total gibberish when the letters are rearranged in just the right way.
Why the Sunday Puzzle is Different
Sunday isn't just a longer version of Monday. It’s a different game. On weekdays, you usually have four clue words and a short phrase. Sunday gives you six clue words and a much larger cartoon panel.
The complexity isn't just in the length. It’s in the "letter bank."
When you pull the circled letters from the six solved words, you have a much larger pool to swim in. If you get one of those six words wrong, the entire final solution becomes impossible. That’s usually where people get stuck. They think they’ve solved a word, but they’ve actually found a different anagram that doesn't fit the final puzzle. For example, the letters "E-A-R-T-H" can also be "HEART." If the Jumble wanted "HEART" and you wrote "EARTH," you’re left with a 'T' and an 'H' for the final pun instead of an 'A' and an 'R.' Total disaster.
Honestly, the Jumble has been around since 1954. It’s one of the few things in the newspaper (or on your tablet) that hasn't changed its core DNA. It relies on the way the human brain processes patterns.
Strategies for Unsticking Your Brain
If you’re still staring at the Sunday Jumble answer today and you haven't looked at the spoilers above yet, try the "Vowel Grouping" method. It sounds technical. It’s not.
Basically, you just separate the vowels from the consonants.
Look at the letters. If you see a 'Y,' treat it like a wildcard. Most people try to read the jumbled word left-to-right. Don't do that. Your brain is wired to find patterns in order. Instead, write the letters in a circle. This breaks the linear "fake" word that Hoyt and Knurek have planted in your head. When the letters are in a circle, your eyes can jump across the diameter to find connections you missed.
Another trick? Look for common suffixes.
- Does it end in -ING?
- Is there an -ED?
- What about -TION?
If you can identify a suffix, you’ve suddenly reduced a seven-letter nightmare into a three-letter piece of cake.
The Psychology of the Pun
The cartoon is your biggest hint. Jeff Knurek doesn't just draw pretty pictures; he hides the answer in the dialogue. Look at the quotation marks. If a word in the caption is in italics, or if a character is pointing at something specific, that’s your "key."
In today’s puzzle, the visual of the architects looking up was the dead giveaway for "Highly." If you can guess one part of the pun, you can often reverse-engineer the clue words you’re struggling with.
Common Jumble Pitfalls
People get frustrated because they hit a wall. Usually, that wall is a "double letter" word. Words with two 'O's or two 'L's are statistically the hardest for the human brain to unscramble because we tend to overlook the second instance of the letter.
Then there’s the "Internal Dictionary" problem.
Sometimes, the Jumble uses words that are perfectly common but aren't in your immediate vocabulary at 8:00 AM. Words like "AMBLE" or "VICAR" or "LOWLY." They aren't hard words. They just aren't "morning words."
History of the Jumble
It’s wild to think this game has survived the digital revolution. Originally called "Scramble" when Martin Naydel created it, it eventually became "Jumble." It’s now syndicated in over 600 newspapers.
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Why?
Because it’s a "closed-loop" problem. Unlike the news, which is messy and stressful, the Jumble is a mess you can actually clean up. There is a definitive answer. There is a sense of completion. When you find the Sunday Jumble answer today, you get a tiny hit of dopamine. It’s a small win to start a day that might otherwise be full of chores or stress.
Troubleshooting the "Last Word"
If you have all the letters for the final cartoon but you’re still blanking, count the spaces.
If the answer is (4 letters) (7 letters), and you have 11 letters in your bank, stop trying to find one big word. Look for the small word first. "THE," "AND," "FOR," "WAS." These are often the "glue" in a Jumble pun.
Today’s answer was a bit more sophisticated, but the logic holds. If you see an 'H' and an 'I' and a 'G,' your brain should immediately scream "HIGH."
Actionable Steps for Next Sunday
Don't let the Jumble win next week. You can actually train for this.
- Read more. It sounds silly, but the more words you see in print, the faster your brain recognizes them when they are broken.
- Practice anagrams. There are apps for this, but even just looking at street signs and trying to scramble them helps.
- Don't linger. If you don't get a word in 30 seconds, move to the next one. Coming back with "fresh eyes" is a real neurological phenomenon. Your subconscious keeps working on the puzzle even when you aren't looking at it.
- Check the layout. If there's a hyphen in the final answer box, it's a pun on a compound word. If there are quotation marks, it's a literal pun.
The Jumble is a marathon, not a sprint. Especially on a Sunday. Now that you have the Sunday Jumble answer today, you can get on with your brunch or your gardening or whatever else 2026 has in store for you. Just remember: if you're stuck, it's usually just one letter playing tricks on your eyes.
Go back and look at those letters one more time before you give up entirely. The solution is usually right in front of you, hiding in plain sight.