NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Friday, September 18, 2026

Updated: Friday, September 18, 2026 · Hints reviewed by Omer Liban · New puzzle daily at midnight local time — free from The Athletic. · Puzzle editor: Mark Cooper.

This page has every level of help for the NYT Connections Sports Edition puzzle of Friday, September 18, 2026: 3 spoiler-free hint tiers that narrow things down step by step, followed by the complete answers with explanations — each behind its own tap-to-reveal card.

Stuck on today's Sports Edition? Same drill as regular Connections: work the tiers below from a single answer per group up to the full explained solution, revealing only as much as you want.

Connections: Sports Edition works exactly like regular Connections — four colour-coded groups from easiest 🟡 yellow to trickiest 🟣 purple — but every category is sports: players, teams, rules, moments. It's made by The Athletic and free to play.

Sports Connections hints (September 18, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “UP”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “FOURTH DOWN”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “WINNING TIME”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “PIERCE”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “In front of”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Associated with punting”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Hbo sports series”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Indianapolis colts”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “In front of”, and its four answers are: UP, AHEAD, LEADING, ON TOP.

Sports Connections answers — September 18, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “In front of”. The answers: UP, AHEAD, LEADING, ON TOP.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Associated with punting”. The answers: FOURTH DOWN, HANG TIME, COFFIN CORNER, FAIR CATCH.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Hbo sports series”. The answers: WINNING TIME, HARD KNOCKS, BALLERS, EASTBOUND & DOWN.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Indianapolis colts”. The answers: PIERCE, DOWNS, KEY, GARDNER.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group is all last names of Indianapolis Colts players—Paul Pierce, Eric Downs, Lawrence Key, and Gardner Minshew—but the real trick is that these names work perfectly as common English words, which is why they kept pulling you toward other categories. "Downs" especially was brutal because it fit so naturally with the punting group (fourth down, hang time, etc.), and "Key" could've felt like it belonged anywhere. "Pierce" probably seemed like it should go with the HBO series since Wendell Pierce is a famous actor, and "Gardner" might've felt like a random word that didn't belong anywhere, making it hard to see the pattern until you had it nailed down.

Next in today's routine: Soccer Connections → · every game's answers on one page. New puzzle daily at midnight local time — free from The Athletic. Bookmark this page for tomorrow's hints. Or play Sports Connections on the official site.

More of today's puzzles

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Sports Connections — common questions

How is Connections Sports Edition different from regular Connections?

Same rules — sort sixteen answers into four colour-coded groups — but every category is sports: players, teams, rules, kits, moments. It's made by The Athletic (the NYT's sports newsroom), it's free, and it lives on The Athletic's site rather than the NYT Games app.

What time does Sports Connections reset?

At midnight in your own local timezone, like Wordle — not at midnight Eastern like regular Connections. Wherever you are, the new puzzle arrives when your clock strikes twelve.

What do the colours mean in Sports Connections?

The same difficulty ladder as regular Connections: yellow is the easiest group, then green, then blue, and purple is the trickiest — often wordplay or a sneaky link between the leftover answers.

Previous Sports Connections puzzles

Full Sports Connections archive (137 puzzles) → · How to play Connections: Sports Edition →