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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition might be tough. Green was a nice easy one, but I was lost on some of the others. 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: Nothing.
Green group hint: Also Minneapolis and Ann Arbor.
Blue group hint: Fore!
Purple group hint: Pitcher’s pal.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Slang for zero.
Green group: Big Ten cities.
Blue group: Sites of this year’s men’s golf majors.
Purple group: MLB catchers.
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 for June 16, 2025.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is slang for zero. The four answers are bagel, donut, goose egg and nil.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is Big Ten cities. The four answers are College Park, Columbus, East Lansing and Madison.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is sites of this year’s men’s golf majors. The four answers are Augusta, Oakmont, Quail Hollow and Royal Portrush.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is MLB catchers. The four answers are Perez, Raleigh, Realmuto and Rutschman.
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.