For fans of word puzzles and sports enthusiasts alike, today’s Connections: Sports Edition presents a unique challenge. Unlike the standard NYT Connections found in the New York Times Games app, this specific version is published by The Athletic, a subscription-based sports journalism outlet owned by The New York Times. While it requires a different platform, it offers a more specialized experience tailored specifically to the world of athletics.
If you are currently stuck on today’s puzzle, this guide provides progressive hints and the full answer key to help you move forward.
Hints for Today’s Groups
If you want to attempt the puzzle yourself before seeing the answers, use these thematic hints. They are organized from the most straightforward (Yellow) to the most complex (Purple).
- 🟡 Yellow Hint: Think about how a baseball pitcher releases the ball.
- 🟢 Green Hint: Essential equipment used in a boxing ring.
- 🔵 Blue Hint: Think of famous names—specifically, first names that can follow the surname “Ryan.”
- 🟣 Purple Hint: A wordplay challenge involving NBA team names.
Today’s Answers
If you are ready to check your work or simply want to see the solution, here are the completed groupings for April 14:
🟡 Yellow: Baseball Pitching Arm Slots
These terms describe the various angles and mechanics a pitcher uses to deliver the ball:
* Overhand
* Sidearm
* Submarine
* Three-quarters
🟢 Green: Boxing Gear
The fundamental tools required for combat sports:
* Gloves
* Mouthguard
* Shorts
* Speed bag
🔵 Blue: ____ Ryan
A linguistic connection using famous “Ryans” (often referencing actors or athletes):
* Buddy
* Matt
* Nolan
* Rex
🟣 Purple: NBA Teams (Last Letter Changed)
The most difficult category, requiring you to identify NBA teams where the final letter has been altered to form a new word:
* Bucky (Bucks)
* Heap (Heat)
* Spurt (Spurs)
* Sung (Suns)
Why These Puzzles Are Challenging
The difficulty of Connections: Sports Edition is highly subjective and depends entirely on your personal sports knowledge. A puzzle that feels intuitive to a baseball fan might be nearly impossible for a casual observer, and vice versa.
The complexity often arises from lateral thinking —the “Purple” categories, in particular, rarely rely on direct definitions. Instead, they use phonetic shifts, letter manipulation, or niche trivia. Previous “mind-blowing” categories have included specific soccer club names (Serie A), WNBA MVPs, and Premier League nicknames, proving that mastery of the game is just as important as mastery of the language.
Summary: Today’s puzzle tests both technical sports terminology and clever wordplay, ranging from baseball mechanics to modified NBA team names.
