All 16 words, sorted alphabetically. Group them into four categories of four.
The four category names, easiest to hardest. No words revealed yet.
Theme name plus one word from each category.
CROSS, FORD, TRAVERSE, and WADE all mean to navigate through or across a river or body of water.
Larry BIRD, Stephen CURRY, LeBron JAMES, and Michael JORDAN are all NBA players who have won the Most Valuable Player award multiple times.
The palindrome 'Able was I ere I saw Elba' contains ABLE, WAS, SAW, and ELBA — the words that are not palindromes themselves, unlike 'ere' and 'I'.
CIAO sounds like 'Chow' (Chow Chow), PALM sounds like 'Pom' (Pomeranian), PEEK sounds like 'Peeke/Peke' (Pekingese), and PITT sounds like 'Pit' (Pit Bull) — all homophones of informal dog breed names.