NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Saturday, September 26, 2026

Updated: Saturday, September 26, 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 Saturday, September 26, 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 26, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “PODIUM”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “CY”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “KAT”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “ROUSEY”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Setting for a news conference”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Winningest mlb pitchers, informally”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Nicknames of knicks, past and present”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Athletes who have hosted "snl"”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Setting for a news conference”, and its four answers are: PODIUM, DAIS, LECTERN, STAGE.

Sports Connections answers — September 26, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Setting for a news conference”. The answers: PODIUM, DAIS, LECTERN, STAGE.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Winningest mlb pitchers, informally”. The answers: CY, WALTER, GROVER, CHRISTY.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Nicknames of knicks, past and present”. The answers: KAT, MELO, CAPTAIN CLUTCH, OAK.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Athletes who have hosted "snl"”. The answers: ROUSEY, PHELPS, KELCE, BARKLEY.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group was all about athletes who've hosted Saturday Night Live—Ronda Rousey, Michael Phelps, Travis Kelce, and Charles Barkley have all taken over Studio 8H. The tricky part is that "BARKLEY" could easily trick you into thinking it belongs with the green group (Cy Young winners), since you might know Walter Johnson or Grover Cleveland Alexander—but it's actually Charles Barkley the NBA legend and SNL host. Similarly, "KELCE" could seem like it belongs with the blue group as a Knicks nickname, but that's a total red herring; it's Travis Kelce the football star. "MELO" and "OAK" were the real Knicks nicknames that belonged in blue (Carmelo Anthony and Oak Hill, a reference to Julius Randle), so keeping those straight from the athletes was the key to cracking this one.

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.

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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 →