The latest New York Times Connections puzzle, the Sports Edition for January 11th (#475), tested players’ knowledge of injuries, NFL personalities, and Florida football. Published by The Athletic (a Times -owned sports journalism platform), this edition is available through The Athletic’s app or online. If you’re stuck, here’s a breakdown of the categories and answers.
Puzzle Breakdown
The puzzle is categorized into four color-coded groups: Yellow (easiest), Green, Blue, and Purple (most challenging). Each group contains four related words that players must identify.
Category Hints & Solutions
The clues were designed to test sports knowledge, from common injuries to specific player names. Here’s how each group breaks down:
- Yellow: The theme is sports injuries. The answers are break, pull, sprain, and tear. These are all common terms for physical damage sustained during athletic competition.
- Green: The theme is NFL broadcasters. The answers are Buck, Eagle, Michaels, and Nantz. These refer to well-known commentators who have called football games for decades.
- Blue: The theme is Jacksonville Jaguars players. The answers are Etienne, Lawrence, Little, and Strange. All four are current or recent members of the Jaguars roster.
- Purple: The theme is short ____. The answers are corner, handed, hop, and stop. This group was the trickiest, relying on common phrases completed with the word “short.”
Why This Matters
Connections puzzles, and particularly the Sports Edition, highlight how well-rounded sports knowledge can be. Players need to recognize injuries, commentators, and even specific athletes to succeed. The increasing popularity of these daily puzzles shows how people enjoy testing their memory and pattern-recognition skills in a casual, accessible format.
The fact that this edition is hosted by The Athletic demonstrates the Times ‘ expansion into niche content markets. The Athletic provides exclusive, high-quality sports journalism that now also includes interactive games like Connections.
