The Sunday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #671, serving up a grid that spans regional loyalties, outdoor equipment, visual branding, and a sharp piece of hidden-name wordplay.
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 #671:
BASEBALL GLOVE | SINKER | CROWN | CREW
PF FLYERS | SOCKS | BUCKEYES | BOILERS
BRIDGE | HOOK | CAVALIERS | STOCKINGS
BLUE DEVILS | BROWNS | TACKLE BOX | SPOON
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Start with geography, looking for competitors whose home identities point to the same state.
Green Category Clue: Leave the stadium behind and picture the equipment packed for a quiet day beside the water.
Blue Category Hint: Think visually about professional baseball branding, not simply about objects used during a game.
Purple Category Teaser: Inspect the endings of the longer entries and listen for familiar names from professional hockey.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
---
---
---
---
---
Yellow (Ohio Teams): BROWNS, BUCKEYES, CAVALIERS, CREW
CAVALIERS, BUCKEYES, BROWNS, and CREW are OHIO TEAMS, representing Cleveland, Ohio State, Cleveland, and Columbus respectively.
CAVALIERS and BLUE DEVILS create a credible basketball overlap, but the state connection gives CAVALIERS its intended home here.
Green (Fishing Gear): HOOK, SINKER, SPOON, TACKLE BOX
HOOK, SINKER, SPOON, and TACKLE BOX form FISHING GEAR, combining terminal tackle, a lure style, and the container used to organize it.
The trap is TACKLE BOX, since tackle also belongs to football vocabulary, while SPOON can look like an ordinary household object until the angling context clicks.
Blue (Found In Mlb Team Logos): BASEBALL GLOVE, BRIDGE, CROWN, SOCKS
SOCKS, BRIDGE, BASEBALL GLOVE, and CROWN are FOUND IN MLB TEAM LOGOS.
SOCKS and STOCKINGS are the strongest surface-level pairing in the grid, while CROWN also tempts a connection to Kings before the logo theme settles the group.
Purple (Ends In An Nhl Team): BLUE DEVILS, BOILERS, PF FLYERS, STOCKINGS
STOCKINGS, PF FLYERS, BLUE DEVILS, and BOILERS make ENDS IN AN NHL TEAM.
The endings reveal KINGS in STOCKINGS, FLYERS in PF FLYERS, DEVILS in BLUE DEVILS, and OILERS in BOILERS. The final one is the cleanest disguise because the added opening letter makes BOILERS read as a complete unrelated word.
The Verdict
The Ohio set should fall first for solvers who recognize the Cavaliers, Buckeyes, Browns, and Crew as sharing a state.
The real trap lives between SOCKS and STOCKINGS, reinforced by CROWN hinting at Kings and by the sporting flexibility of TACKLE BOX.
Purple decides the clean solve, especially the concealed OILERS in BOILERS, because its trick is structural rather than thematic at first glance.
Reset and Repeat
The BOILERS and OILERS transformation is today's standout flourish, the kind of compact trick that rewards one last scan of every word ending. Reset the board and come back tomorrow for another grid.
For now, puzzle #671 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
