The Sunday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #664, and this one is a love letter to the beautiful game. Every single word in today's grid orbits the world of soccer, from iconic stadiums to Golden Ball legends to the mechanics of keeping the ball out of the net.
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 #664:
MARACANÃ | MARADONA | MODRIĆ | GOAL
GLOVE | SAVE | BALL | ROSE BOWL
SOCCER CITY | FORLÁN | PARRY | BOOT
BLOCK | ZIDANE | AZTECA | STOP
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about what goalkeepers do for a living, these four actions all describe the same mission.
Green Category Clue: These are places where the world's biggest soccer match has been decided. History was made on these grounds.
Blue Category Hint: Four men who stood tallest when the World Cup's brightest lights shone. Each took home the tournament's top individual prize.
Purple Category Teaser: Add a single word after each of these four terms, and you get something every soccer player wants, or needs. Think equipment, not tactics.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Prevent a Goal): BLOCK, PARRY, SAVE, STOP
The easiest category lands firmly in the keeper's box. Block, parry, save, and stop are all verbs describing a goalkeeper's primary job: keeping the ball out of the net by any means necessary.
Green (Stadiums to Host World Cup Final): AZTECA, MARACANÃ, ROSE BOWL, SOCCER CITY
These four venues have hosted the biggest match in world soccer. Estadio Azteca (Mexico City, 1970 and 1986), Maracanã (Rio de Janeiro, 1950 and 2014), Rose Bowl (Pasadena, 1994), and Soccer City (Johannesburg, 2010) are the hallowed grounds where World Cup finals were decided.
Blue (World Cup Golden Ball Winners): FORLÁN, MARADONA, MODRIĆ, ZIDANE
This category separates casual viewers from students of World Cup history. Diego Maradona (1986), Zinedine Zidane (2006), Diego Forlán (2010), and Luka Modrić (2018) all won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.
Purple (Golden _____): BALL, BOOT, GLOVE, GOAL
The trickiest category requires a prefix play. Each word completes a "Golden" compound: Golden Ball (World Cup MVP), Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Glove (best goalkeeper), and Golden Goal (the now-retired extra-time sudden-death rule).
The Verdict
Puzzle #664 registers as moderate difficulty with a sting in the tail. Yellow falls quickly for anyone who recognizes the soccer theme, while green requires deeper athletic knowledge.
Blue separates the true sports buffs from casual fans. Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender, requiring serious lateral thinking about sports terminology.
The real trap here is GOAL. It looks like it belongs in the yellow "Prevent a Goal" category, but GOAL is a noun, not an action verb like BLOCK, PARRY, SAVE, and STOP. That same trick almost pulls BALL and GLOVE into the wrong groups, since both are physical objects that feature in everyday soccer play.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: you navigated Golden Ball winners, World Cup final venues, and a sneaky compound-word trap.
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden sports connections.
For now, puzzle #664 is solved. See you at midnight for round #665.
