NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Updated: Tuesday, October 13, 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, October 13, 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 (October 13, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “BLUNDER”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “VILLANOVA”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “WILSON”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “CHAWINGA”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Mistake”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Big east schools”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Tennis ball brands”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Nwsl mvps”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Mistake”, and its four answers are: BLUNDER, ERROR, FLUB, HOWLER.

Sports Connections answers — October 13, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Mistake”. The answers: BLUNDER, ERROR, FLUB, HOWLER.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Big east schools”. The answers: VILLANOVA, DEPAUL, CREIGHTON, PROVIDENCE.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Tennis ball brands”. The answers: WILSON, PENN, DUNLOP, BABOLAT.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Nwsl mvps”. The answers: CHAWINGA, FISHLOCK, KEROLIN, HOLIDAY.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group is all last names of NWSL (National Women's Soccer League) MVP award winners—Sophia Chawinga, Alex Fishlock, Kerolin, and Holiday. The main bait here was that these sound like they could be common English words or names you'd recognize, when they're actually specific athletes most casual sports fans wouldn't immediately know. WILSON and PENN were probably your biggest traps since they're both tennis ball brands AND common last names (like tennis players), so if you were thinking "famous people in sports," those could've easily pulled you toward the purple group. Similarly, HOLIDAY might've felt like it belonged with words related to mistakes (since you can "holiday" somewhere or take time off), but it's actually just Mal Holiday's last name, the 2021 NWSL MVP.

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

LinkedIn puzzles

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 →