Another day, another grid of words. But not in the usual app. Not in the NYT games bundle anyway.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition comes from The Athletic. They own it now, alongside The New York Times. You won’t find this puzzle in your standard lineup unless you dig into the Athletic’s app, or play online for free. No barriers there.
The vibe today is weirdly specific.
Purple categories usually mean trouble. Today isn’t an exception. You’re hunting inside words for hidden names. It’s that kind of day. If you’re stuck staring at the screen, wondering why “Squidward” is next to “clove,” read on. Or don’t. Solve it yourself. But I’m going to spill the beans anyway.
Hints first. Why spoil it?
Because you asked. Here’s how the difficulty climbs from the mundane yellow layer to the mind-bending purple peak.
Three points. (Yellow)
Think football. Literally just the act of trying to score them.
Light the cauldron. (Green)
Where does that happen in the United States? Olympic host cities, that’s where.
Minor leagues. (Blue)
Specifically, the tier right below the majors. Baseball purists, take a bow.
Find a player’s hidden name. (Purple)
The catch? It has to be at the end of the word. And that player better be an NFL quarterback.
The answers. Yes, really.
Let’s break it down, color by color.
Yellow
This is the warm-up. The theme? Actions on a field goal attempt
- Block
- Hold
- Kick
- Snap
Easy. Unless you don’t watch Sunday games. Even then, it’s simple enough.
Green
History lesson. The theme is U.S. cities that hosted the Olympics
- Atlanta
- Los Angeles
- Salt Lake City
- St. Louis
Note to self: Salt Lake City fits. St. Louis? Also fits. Geography buffs eat well on this round.
Blue
Here is where the niche knowledge hits. The theme? Triple-A baseball team nicknames
- Bats (Reno)
- Express (Norfolk)
- IronPigs (Lehigh Valley)
- Jumbo Shrimp (Jacksonville)
IronPigs. A city’s pride? Sure. Why not. And Jumbo Shrimp? Because baseball naming conventions are a comedy hour in their own right.
Purple
The boss battle. The theme ends in an NFL QB
- Clove — Jordan Love
- Fallen — Josh Allen
- Phoenix — Bo Nix
- Squidward — Cam Ward
Did you spot that one? Love, Allen, Nix, Ward. Hidden at the tails of unrelated words. It requires lateral thinking. Or just good memory. Maybe a little bit of both.
Not every category hurts equally hard.
The Sports Edition fluctuates. Hard for one person, breeze for another. Depends entirely on your sports diet.
My husband dominates Formula 1 trivia. He barely glances. My friend knows hockey like her own history. I’m good on Minnesota teams, obviously. Bias is a powerful thing.
But some categories are just cruel. Mind-blowingly so.
Here are three that stuck with me. The ones that made me throw the tablet across the room.
- Serie A Clubs — Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Romans fans beware, I mean Roma. You either know Italian football or you guess until you die.
- WNBA MVPs — Catchings, Delle Donne, Stewarts, Fowles. Legends, sure. But name recall is a brutal game.
- Premier League nicknames — Bees, Cherries, Foxe, Hammers.
Bees. Cherries. Foxes. It sounds like a fruit basket mixed with a zodiac.
Why does one team get the hammers, another the bees? History, probably. Nonsense, more likely.
Sports trivia doesn’t care if you slept. It just waits there. Grid square by grid square.
And tomorrow?
It’ll be there again. With new words. New lies. Or truths. You decide.
