New NYT Connections Sports Game
Traditionally, word games (such as crosswords) and sports coverage occupied completely different pages and sections of the newspaper. But the New York Times is now combining both concepts in a sports-themed version of its Connections game, simply called Connections: Sports Edition .
( Warning: The following contains some spoilers for the October 4 episode of Puzzle. )
The rules are the same as a regular game of Connections (by the way, you can read our daily Connections tips here ). There are 16 words or phrases on the board, forming four groups of four. Although some words can conceivably belong to more than one group, each day there is only one way to separate them, as the game designer intended.
I’m good at general communications, but useless when it comes to sports trivia. How athletic will this game be? Well, I lost today’s game and expect to lose tomorrow, which is probably like sports in the sense that I now know how the Pirates must feel all the time.
Without revealing everything, I will describe the types of categories that were in today’s game:
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Team names that have a common theme (for example, the names are similar to each other; you don’t need to know anything about what sport they are from or how their players perform).
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Synonyms of sports-related verb
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Four names of players who have the same last name.
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Sports TV show characters
So, do you need to know exactly what’s going on in the world of sports? Not really. But should you be fluent in the names of teams, players and commentators? Yes, sure.
Here are a few more (relevant!) categories from previous days’ puzzles:
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Game without bets (EXHIBITION, FRIENDLY, COMPARISON, WARM-UP)
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Tennis shots (BACKHAND, DROP, SLICE, SMASH)
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Big Ten Nicknames (BAGGERS, BOILERBOYERS, BUCKIES, HOOSIERS)
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Former MLB teams (BROWNS, EXPOS, PILOTS, SENATORS)
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Bar games (DARTS, FOOTBALL, JENGA, SHUFFLEBOARD)
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Basketball Shots (DUNK, FLOATER, JUMPER, LIE-UP)
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Golf equipment (HANDLE, CLUB, GLOVE, TEI)
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Swimmer’s needs (CAP, GLASSES, POOL, SUIT)
Connections: Sports Edition is in beta, which means we can expect it to appear on the NYT website while they fine-tune the details and gauge its popularity. If successful, it could join the pantheon (and the Games app) along with Wordle, Strands, Connections, and Spelling Bee. Otherwise, he may disappear forever – so play while you can.
Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle #11 🟣🟣🔵🔵 🟢🟢🟣🟢 🟢🟢🟢🟢 🟡🟡🟡🟡 🔵🟣🔵🔵 🔵🟣🟣🔵