If you are tackling today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle and need a nudge in the right direction, you have landed at the perfect spot. This daily challenge, known as the Sports Edition Coach, is your go-to source for clues, discussion, and score sharing.
Before diving into the hints and answers, here is a quick heads-up: The full solutions and category hints are provided later in this article. If you prefer to solve the board without any assistance, we recommend playing the puzzle first.
Today’s puzzle, No. 596, is rated as a 2 out of 5 on the difficulty scale – making it a relatively straightforward challenge for sports fans.
For those looking for a single answer per category, here is a sneak peek:
– Yellow: OFF
– Green: GROMMETS
– Blue: JOE
– Purple: GAME
Below are the complete answers for each category, along with the word groups.
**Yellow (Straightforward) – Out of practice:** COLD, OFF, RUSTY, SLUGGISH
**Green (Medium) – Parts of a tennis racket:** BUTT, GRIP, GROMMETS, STRINGS
**Blue (Challenging) – Members of the Oklahoma City Thunder:** DORT, HOLMGREN, JOE, WALLACE
**Purple (Tricky) – _____ clock:** GAME, PITCH, PLAY, SHOT
**What Is Connections: Sports Edition?**
This is The Athletic’s first-ever game, a daily puzzle designed to test your ability to find hidden links among 16 sports-related words or items. The goal is to group them into four sets of four based on common traits, completing the task with as few mistakes as possible. Each puzzle has only one correct solution, so beware of words that seem to fit multiple categories.
Categories range from yellow (easiest) to green, blue, and purple (trickiest). Examples include “Sports ____ : Fan, Car, Bar, Radio” or “U.S. Summer Olympians: Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles.”
The puzzles are created by Mark Cooper, a managing editor for college sports at The Athletic who previously handled breaking news coverage. The next puzzle will be available at midnight local time. Have fun playing, and feel free to share your scores in the comments!
