NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Sunday, September 27, 2026

Updated: Sunday, September 27, 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 Sunday, September 27, 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 27, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “WILD CARD”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “ANAHEIM”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “NIX”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “SHOUT”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Mlb playoff rounds, with "series"”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Actual mlb home cities”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Denver broncos”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Associated with oregon football”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Mlb playoff rounds, with "series"”, and its four answers are: WILD CARD, DIVISION, CHAMPIONSHIP, WORLD.

Sports Connections answers — September 27, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Mlb playoff rounds, with "series"”. The answers: WILD CARD, DIVISION, CHAMPIONSHIP, WORLD.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Actual mlb home cities”. The answers: ANAHEIM, ARLINGTON, ST. PETERSBURG, SACRAMENTO.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Denver broncos”. The answers: NIX, WADDLE, HARVEY, BONITTO.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Associated with oregon football”. The answers: SHOUT, AUTZEN, NIKE, DUCKS.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group is all about Oregon football—DUCKS is the mascot, AUTZEN is their stadium, NIKE is headquartered there and heavily sponsors the program, and SHOUT is their famous fight song. The trickiest part is that NIKE and DUCKS could totally fool you into thinking they belong with the Broncos (since Nike makes NFL gear and the Broncos' mascot is an animal), and SHOUT might make you think it's some kind of playoff exclamation. Also, WADDLE from the Broncos group is a real player, but it could've baited people into thinking about Donald Duck waddling, which would pull your brain toward that DUCKS answer!

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 (185 puzzles) → · How to play Connections: Sports Edition →