The latest New York Times Connections: Sports Edition puzzle (#456, released Dec. 23) leans heavily into basketball terminology and wordplay. For those seeking hints or direct answers, this guide breaks down the solution, categorizing the groupings by difficulty – from straightforward yellow to the trickiest purple.
Puzzle Overview
This edition, published through The Athletic (a New York Times subsidiary), is accessible via The Athletic ‘s app or directly online. Unlike the main NYT Games suite, it doesn’t appear in the standard NYT Games app. The puzzle challenges players to identify four groups of four words, each linked by a shared theme.
Hints by Difficulty
Here’s a breakdown of the categories, progressing from easier to more challenging:
- Yellow (Easiest): This group centers around moments of pause.
- Green: The theme here involves key components of a basketball setup.
- Blue: The connection in this grouping is a famous surname also found in geography.
- Purple (Hardest): This category relies on phonetic similarities with NBA players.
Complete Solutions
Here are the four solved groups for today’s puzzle:
- Yellow: Break, Breather, Respite, Rest. These words all represent a pause for recovery.
- Green: Base, Glass, Net, Rim. These are all parts of a basketball hoop.
- Blue: Chiles, Love, Poole, Spieth. All are surnames also shared with places in the United States.
- Purple: Barns, Flag, Heart, Quickly. These words sound like NBA players Barnes, Flagg, Hurt, and Quickley.
The puzzle’s difficulty stems from the purple category’s reliance on auditory similarity rather than direct association. This makes it the most challenging for many players.
The Sports Edition continues to test vocabulary and associative thinking, providing a unique challenge within the New York Times gaming ecosystem.
