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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a real toughie.There’s a fun word puzzle in the green category, and the purple one goes completely off the wall with one of those remove-and-add-a-letter twists. No fears, we’ll help you through it. Read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Stats.
Green group hint: Able was I ere I saw Elba.
Blue group hint: Remember the Alamo (athletes).
Purple group hint: Baseball teams with a twist.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Player bio information.
Green group: Palindromes.
Blue group: San Antonio Spurs stars, informally.
Purple group: MLB teams, with the first letter changed.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is player bio information. The four answers are height, number, position and weight.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is palindromes. The four answers are kayak, pop, race car and stats.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is San Antonio Spurs stars, informally. The four answers are Manu, Tim, Tony and Victor.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is MLB teams, with the first letter changed. The four answers are beds, days, dubs and pets. (Reds, Rays, Cubs and Mets.)
Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition
#1: Don’t grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?
#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.
#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it’s also the last name of at least one pro athlete.
