The puzzle rewards both broad sports knowledge and lateral thinking.
Each day at midnight, a small ritual renews itself: sixteen words appear on a screen, waiting to be sorted into four groups by anyone willing to sit with the puzzle long enough to see the hidden order. The New York Times and The Athletic have built Connections Sports Edition as a meeting place between sports knowledge and linguistic intuition, where a word like 'stout' or 'way' quietly carries a second life as an athlete's surname. It is a modest but genuine invitation — to think carefully, to hold multiple meanings at once, and to find satisfaction in the moment a pattern finally reveals itself.
- Sixteen words sit on the board with no obvious seams, and the clock is already ticking toward the next midnight reset.
- The real tension lives in the double meanings — 'edge' could describe competition or a blade, 'way' sounds like a direction until it turns out to be a punter's name.
- Players must navigate four distinct categories: the language of competitive gaps, a skier's essential gear, baseball glove manufacturers, and NFL specialists who rarely get the spotlight.
- The answers resolve cleanly — advantage, edge, lead, margin; boots, poles, skis, snow; Mizuno, Nike, Rawlings, Wilson; Anger, Haack, Stout, Way — but only after the misdirections are untangled.
- For those already deep in the daily puzzle habit, the game lands as one more small, satisfying reason to begin the morning with focused attention.
The New York Times has steadily built a constellation of daily word games, and Connections Sports Edition — born from a collaboration with The Athletic — adds another point of light to that map. It follows the same structure as the original Connections: sixteen words, four hidden categories, one correct grouping each. The difference is that everything here speaks in the dialect of sport.
The puzzle resets every night at midnight Eastern time, meaning December 24, 2025 brings its own fresh challenge. The difficulty lies not just in sports knowledge but in language itself — words that seem to belong to one category have a habit of quietly belonging to another, and the game rewards those who can hold competing meanings in suspension long enough to find the right fit.
Today's four categories move across very different corners of the sports world. One asks for words describing the gap between competitors — advantage, edge, lead, margin. Another names what a skier cannot do without: boots, poles, skis, snow. A third group belongs to the companies whose names are stamped inside baseball gloves — Mizuno, Nike, Rawlings, Wilson. The final category is the most deceptive: four NFL punters identified only by surname — Anger, Haack, Stout, Way.
That last group is where the puzzle earns its reputation for misdirection. 'Stout' suggests a body type or a dark beer. 'Way' reads as a common preposition. Only when you recognize them as the names of specialists in the kicking game does the board finally settle into order — a small, clean resolution that is, for devoted puzzle solvers, entirely worth the wait.
If you've already worked your way through Wordle, the daily Connections puzzle, Strands, and the Mini Crossword, The New York Times has another game waiting for you at midnight. Connections Sports Edition arrived as a collaboration between the Times and The Athletic, and it follows the same basic structure as the original word puzzle—sixteen words on the board, four categories to uncover, one correct grouping per category. The twist is that everything here speaks the language of sports.
The game resets each day at 12 a.m. Eastern time, which means there's a fresh puzzle waiting on Wednesday, December 24, 2025. Like its predecessor, Connections Sports Edition asks you to identify the thread that binds four words together. The categories can be straightforward or deliberately tricky, and part of the challenge is knowing when a word might belong to more than one group—and figuring out which grouping is actually correct.
For today's puzzle, the four categories break down as follows. One group asks you to find words that describe the gap between two opponents in competition—the space that separates a leader from those chasing. Another category focuses on what a skier needs to function on the mountain, the essential equipment without which the sport becomes impossible. A third group consists of manufacturers who make baseball gloves, companies whose names appear stamped inside the leather that fielders wear. The final category names four NFL punters, athletes whose job is to kick the ball downfield.
If you're stuck, here's where the answers lie. The gap between opponents can be expressed as advantage, edge, lead, or margin—four different words for the same competitive reality. A skier's needs include boots, poles, skis, and snow, the physical requirements for the sport. Baseball glove makers include Mizuno, Nike, Rawlings, and Wilson, four brands that dominate the equipment market. And the NFL punters are Anger, Haack, Stout, and Way—four surnames that belong to players who specialize in the kicking game.
The puzzle rewards both broad sports knowledge and the ability to think laterally about language. A word like "way" might seem generic until you realize it's a punter's name. "Stout" could describe a beer or a person's build, but here it's another kicker. The game doesn't require you to be a sports encyclopedia, but it does ask you to hold multiple meanings in your head at once and to recognize when a word is doing double duty. For those already deep in the daily puzzle habit, Connections Sports Edition offers another reason to check in each morning, another small challenge to solve before the day truly begins.
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
So this is just Connections, but for sports fans?
It's Connections with a sports lens, yes—but that changes everything about how the puzzle works. You're not just thinking about word relationships; you're thinking about sports knowledge too.
What makes it harder than regular Connections?
The ambiguity. A word like "way" is just a direction until you know it's a punter's last name. The puzzle is betting you won't make that connection immediately.
Do you need to be a huge sports fan to solve it?
Not necessarily. Some categories are obvious—skier equipment is pretty straightforward. Others require you to know specific athletes or brands. It's a mix.
Why would the Times add this if they already have regular Connections?
Because there's an audience that wants their daily puzzle to speak their language. Sports fans who do Wordle every morning now have something that feels made for them.
Is it the same difficulty level as the original?
It varies. Some days it's easier because the category is concrete. Other days, like when you're grouping punters by their last names, it gets tricky fast.