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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. Lots of very short clues, some of which aren’t even real words. If you’re struggling with the puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.
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Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Vital sports equipment.
Green group hint: College nicknames.
Blue group hint: Not small.
Purple group hint: Hoops teams, if you play around with their names.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Balls.
Green group: Big Ten school initialisms
Blue group: “Big” baseball nicknames.
Purple group: NBA teams, minus their first and last letter.
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What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for June 13, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is balls. The four answers are bocce, cue, golf and wiffle.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is Big Ten school initialisms. The four answers are NU, OSU, UM and USC.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is “Big” baseball nicknames. The four answers are Hurt, Mac, Papi and Unit.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is NBA teams, minus their first and last letter. The four answers are acer (Pacers), awk (Hawks), ea (Heat) and nick (Knicks).
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