NYT Connections Sports Edition hints & answers: Thursday, November 12, 2026

Updated: Thursday, November 12, 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 Thursday, November 12, 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 (November 12, 2026)

1One answer from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its answers is “SUN”.
Green (easy): one of its answers is “ORANGE”.
Blue (tricky): one of its answers is “EMERY”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its answers is “SURF”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “A western conference nba player”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Teams in new york state”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Premier league managers”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “_____board”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “A western conference nba player”, and its four answers are: SUN, LAKER, WARRIOR, ROCKET.

Sports Connections answers — November 12, 2026

★Today's full Sports Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “A western conference nba player”. The answers: SUN, LAKER, WARRIOR, ROCKET.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Teams in new york state”. The answers: ORANGE, SABRES, LIBERTY, BILLS.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Premier league managers”. The answers: EMERY, ROSE, LAMPARD, MOYES.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “_____board”. The answers: SURF, SKATE, WAKE, SNOW.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group is all types of boards you can ride—surfboard, skateboard, wakeboard, and snowboard—so they all complete the phrase "___ BOARD." The trickiest part is that WAKE could easily trick you into the NBA group since the Lakers, Warriors, Rockets, and Suns are all Western Conference teams, but WAKE isn't a team. Similarly, SNOW might seem like it could be part of the New York State teams (since you've got the Bills and Sabres already), but it's actually part of snowboard. And ROSE could definitely pull you toward the Premier League managers category since some famous managers share those names, but it's actually ROSE as in roseboard—wait, no, that's not right. Actually, ROSE is definitely Brendan Rodgers' related name, so the real bait is probably that SURF, SKATE, WAKE, and SNOW all *sound* like they could relate to active sports or outdoor activities that might distract you from the simple "boards" connection.

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 →