NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Updated: Tuesday, September 29, 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 Tuesday, September 29, 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 29, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “BABE”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “PICABO STREET”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “BULL DURHAM”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “PAUL BUNYAN'S AXE”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Babe ruth nicknames”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Famous winter olympians”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Kevin costner sports films”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Big ten rivalry trophies”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Babe ruth nicknames”, and its four answers are: BABE, BAMBINO, COLOSSUS OF CLOUT, SULTAN OF SWAT.

Sports Connections answers — September 29, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Babe ruth nicknames”. The answers: BABE, BAMBINO, COLOSSUS OF CLOUT, SULTAN OF SWAT.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Famous winter olympians”. The answers: PICABO STREET, APOLO OHNO, MARIT BJØRGEN, ALYSA LIU.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Kevin costner sports films”. The answers: BULL DURHAM, DRAFT DAY, FIELD OF DREAMS, TIN CUP.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Big ten rivalry trophies”. The answers: PAUL BUNYAN'S AXE, VICTORY BELL, OLD OAKEN BUCKET, FLOYD OF ROSEDALE.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group is all physical trophies that Big Ten rival teams compete for—Paul Bunyan's Axe goes to the Minnesota-Wisconsin winner, Victory Bell is for the Ohio State-Michigan game, Old Oaken Bucket is Indiana-Purdue, and Floyd of Rosedale (a bronze pig!) goes to Iowa-Minnesota. The trickiest part is that these sound like they *could* be Babe Ruth nicknames since they're all colorful, old-timey phrases, which is exactly what makes them dangerous bait—especially "Sultan of Swat" being right there in the yellow group makes your brain want to group similar-sounding things together. "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams," and "Tin Cup" were all Kevin Costner movies, but "Draft Day" is the sneaky one there since it's also a Costner sports film that might not jump out as obviously as the baseball ones do.

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