What does a crooked arrow mean in the upper left of an iPad screen?

What you appear to see is not a crooked arrow - but is actually two overlapping screen elements...

1) < Home

2) < NYTimes (with a filled arrowhead)

I have, on occasion, seen other overlapping screen elements subsequent to release of iPadOS 26. That said, this is the first "crooked arrow" that I've seen. 🙂