What Sports Connections actually is
Sports Connections is the sports-only version of NYT Connections, built by NYT Games with The Athletic. Every day you get a four-by-four grid of sixteen tiles — team names, player nicknames, stadium terms, positions — and your job is to find the four groups of four hiding inside them. You can make four mistakes before the game ends. There is no timer on the standard grid, and the puzzle is free.
The catch that makes it its own beast: the groups are held together by knowledge, not language. In the main Connections you can reason your way to an answer by spotting a pun. Here, either you know that the Fever are Indiana's WNBA team or you don't. That is why a good hint page is worth more on Sports Edition than on any other daily puzzle — and why we explain every group rather than just listing it.
How the sports categories work
Most grids mix a few recognisable archetypes. There is usually a teams-by-location group that spans several leagues (the trap is that they don't share a sport), a nicknames group where none of the tiles look like real names, an "associated with a player" group tying a career together, and one wordplay group — the hardest tier — where the link is in the words themselves, not in sport at all. Spotting which tile is bait for the wrong group is the whole game.
Where to get today's hints and answers
Our hints hub carries the current puzzle and lets you reveal help one step at a time: a single-word nudge per group, then the category names, then first letters — and only then a link to the answers. When you want the full solution, the answers page lays out all sixteen tiles in their groups with a short, plain reason for each connection. Past puzzles live in the archive.
How it differs from regular Connections
Same rules, different muscle. Regular Connections rewards lateral thinking about language; Sports Edition rewards how much sport you follow. If you don't follow US leagues, some groups will feel impossible even after you see them — which is exactly why each of our answer breakdowns names the league, the city or the player behind the group, written for readers who don't live and breathe the NBA.
Frequently asked questions
What is Connections Sports Edition?
It is a daily word-grouping puzzle from NYT Games and The Athletic. You get sixteen sports-related tiles and sort them into four hidden groups of four — teams, nicknames, positions, wordplay and the like. It is a spin-off of the main NYT Connections puzzle, focused entirely on sport.
Is Sports Connections free to play?
Yes. The daily Connections Sports Edition is free to play on The Athletic's site with no subscription, and you do not need an NYT Games account. It sits on The Athletic rather than inside the main NYT Games app.
What time does a new puzzle come out?
A fresh puzzle unlocks at midnight local time, so players in earlier time zones see the next day's grid first. That is why our hints hub is updated as soon as each day's puzzle is live.
How is it different from regular Connections?
The mechanic is identical — sixteen tiles, four groups, four mistakes allowed. The difference is that Sports Edition is knowledge-gated: you solve it by knowing sports facts (which city a team plays in, a player's nickname), not by spotting wordplay. That is why hints and clear explanations matter more here.
Is this the official game?
No. SportsMonkie is independent and not affiliated with the NYT or The Athletic. We publish hints and answer breakdowns; the puzzle itself is played on The Athletic, which we link to on every page.