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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The purple category wants you to look inside of different words and see if you recognize other related words. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Get your racket.
Green group hint: Football, February to September.
Blue group hint: College gridiron stars.
Purple group hint: Look for hidden teams.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Scoring in tennis.
Green group: NFL offseason events.
Blue group: Heisman Trophy finalists.
Purple group: Starts with an NFL team in singular form.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 13, 2025.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is scoring in tennis. The four answers are 15, 30, 40 and deuce.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is NFL offseason events. The four answers are combine, draft, OTAs and training camp.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Heisman Trophy finalists. The four answers are Love, Mendoza, Pavia and Sayin.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is starts with an NFL team in singular form. The four answers are beard, billboard, brownie and jettison.
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Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories
The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.
That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing recently.
#1: Series A Clubs, Jan. 11. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.
#2: WNBA MVPs, Jan. 21. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.
#3: Premier League team nicknames, Jan. 17. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.
#4: Homophones of NBA player names, Jan. 26. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.
Great Job Gael Cooper & the Team @ CNET Source link for sharing this story.
