Yesterday's Sports Connections answers: Friday, September 25, 2026
Missed yesterday's NYT Connections Sports Edition from Friday, September 25, 2026? Every answer is below, behind a single reveal. Solving today instead? Nothing here spoils it — today's Sports Connections hints are here.
★ Yesterday's answers, revealed
- Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Last four franchises to win stanley cup”. The answers: CAROLINA, FLORIDA, VEGAS, COLORADO.
- Green (easy) — the connection is “Nba divisions”. The answers: PACIFIC, ATLANTIC, CENTRAL, SOUTHWEST.
- Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Carolina panthers”. The answers: YOUNG, HORN, TREMBLE, HUBBARD.
- Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “_____ hitter”. The answers: OUTSIDE, SWITCH, LEADOFF, PINCH.
The puzzle, explained
The purple group is all types of hitters in baseball—you've got your **switch hitter** (bats from both sides), **leadoff hitter** (first in the order), **pinch hitter** (comes off the bench), and **outside hitter** (waits for pitches on the outer edge of the zone). The trickiest part is that **CAROLINA, FLORIDA, VEGAS, and COLORADO** could all technically be baseball stadiums too (they all have MLB teams), which might've made you second-guess whether some of those belonged in yellow instead of the Stanley Cup winners group. Also, **YOUNG, HORN, TREMBLE, and HUBBARD** are all actual Carolina Panthers players, so if you weren't thinking about that specific connection, those names could've seemed random and tempted you into other groups.
Want the full walkthrough?
Yesterday's page with the complete tiered hints is at Sports Connections September 25, 2026 — hints & answers, and every past puzzle lives in the Sports Connections archive.
Playing today's puzzle? Connections Sports Edition Hints Today → — spoiler-safe tiers from a gentle nudge to the full solution. Bookmark this page for whenever you miss a day.