The Friday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #613, testing your knowledge of soccer terminology, NHL geography, and the suits who run professional sports. Today's challenge rewards anyone who can spot the difference between striking a ball and striking out a commissioner.
What Makes Connections Sports Edition Tick
For newcomers, NYT Connections Sports Edition presents 16 sports-themed words that must be sorted into four thematic groups of four. The twist?
You're limited to four mistakes, and the color-coded difficulty system (yellow being easiest, purple being trickiest) means surface-level connections often mislead.
Connections Sports Edition brings the same addictive puzzle format to the world of athletics, featuring athletes, teams, sports terminology, and legendary moments. The game's genius lies in its red herrings, words that could fit multiple sports categories but belong in only one.
Today's Grid at a Glance
Here are the 16 words staring back at you in puzzle #613:
GOLDEN | BOOT | SILVER | STRIKE
GOODELL | KICK | NEW | SOUND
TITAN | PUNT | PREDATOR | LOS
BETTMAN | OKLAHOMA | COMMODORE | MANFRED
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about what happens when a soccer player connects with the ball using anything but a header.
Green Category Clue: These four words share a home rink, or a stadium, in the heart of Music City.
Blue Category Hint: These are the people who sign the checks, and suspend the players, for the four major North American sports leagues.
Purple Category Teaser: These words start the names of NBA franchises, but they're not the city names you'd expect.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
---
---
---
---
---
Yellow (Hit a Ball With Your Foot): BOOT, KICK, PUNT, STRIKE
Four verbs that describe making contact with a ball using your foot. "Strike" might trick soccer fans into thinking of a free kick, but in this context it's the cleanest description of foot-to-ball contact alongside boot, kick, and punt.
Green (An Athlete in Nashville): COMMODORE, PREDATOR, SOUND, TITAN
Every one of these words is the nickname of a professional sports team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Predators (NHL), Titans (NFL), Sounds (Triple-A baseball), and Commodores (Vanderbilt University athletics) all call Music City home.
Blue (League Commissioners): BETTMAN, GOODELL, MANFRED, SILVER
The four commissioners currently running North America's biggest sports leagues: Gary Bettman (NHL), Roger Goodell (NFL), Rob Manfred (MLB), and Adam Silver (NBA). If you're a sports fan who follows league politics, this group locks in fast.
Purple (First Words in NBA Team Locations): GOLDEN, LOS, NEW, OKLAHOMA
These are the first words in the names of NBA teams, Golden State, Los Angeles, New York, and Oklahoma City. The trick is that "Golden," "Los," "New," and "Oklahoma" aren't full city names, but they're the identifying prefixes that distinguish each franchise.
The Verdict
Puzzle #613 registers as moderate difficulty with a sting in the tail. Yellow falls quickly for anyone who watches soccer, while green requires knowing which teams play in Nashville.
Blue separates the true sports fans from casual observers, you need to know the names of every major league commissioner. Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender, requiring you to think about NBA team names in a way most fans never do.
The real trap is "Strike," which could easily pull you toward baseball (strike zone, strike three) or bowling (strike!) when it actually belongs in the soccer/football kicking category. Likewise, "Silver" looks like a color or medal alongside "Golden," but that's a dead end, Silver belongs to the commissioners alongside Bettman, Goodell, and Manfred.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: did you know all four commissioners, or did Nashville's team names send you scrambling?
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden sports connections.
For now, puzzle #613 is solved. See you at midnight for round #614.
