NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Friday, September 25, 2026

Updated: Friday, September 25, 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 25, 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 25, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “CAROLINA”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “PACIFIC”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “YOUNG”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “OUTSIDE”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Last four franchises to win stanley cup”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Nba divisions”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Carolina panthers”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “_____ hitter”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Last four franchises to win stanley cup”, and its four answers are: CAROLINA, FLORIDA, VEGAS, COLORADO.

Sports Connections answers — September 25, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Last four franchises to win stanley cup”. The answers: CAROLINA, FLORIDA, VEGAS, COLORADO.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Nba divisions”. The answers: PACIFIC, ATLANTIC, CENTRAL, SOUTHWEST.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Carolina panthers”. The answers: YOUNG, HORN, TREMBLE, HUBBARD.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “_____ hitter”. The answers: OUTSIDE, SWITCH, LEADOFF, PINCH.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group is all types of hitters in baseball—you've got your **switch hitter** (bats from both sides), **leadoff hitter** (first in the order), **pinch hitter** (comes off the bench), and **outside hitter** (waits for pitches on the outer edge of the zone). The trickiest part is that **CAROLINA, FLORIDA, VEGAS, and COLORADO** could all technically be baseball stadiums too (they all have MLB teams), which might've made you second-guess whether some of those belonged in yellow instead of the Stanley Cup winners group. Also, **YOUNG, HORN, TREMBLE, and HUBBARD** are all actual Carolina Panthers players, so if you weren't thinking about that specific connection, those names could've seemed random and tempted you into other groups.

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 →