The Thursday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #689, serving up a grid that moves from championship history and regional loyalties to athlete recognition and precise letterplay.
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 #689:
BAKERS | BUCCANEERS | CHIEFS | WINGS
RYAN | SOUTH FLORIDA | FORTE | LIGHTNING
SEAHAWKS | RAYS | PAINTER | RACERS
HOLLIDAY | SLIPPERS | RAMS | EAGLES
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about recent championship chronology, not simply franchises with memorable trophy runs.
Green Category Clue: Pin your map to one Gulf Coast market, then look across different levels and types of competition.
Blue Category Hint: A shared first name connects four figures drawn from different corners of sports.
Purple Category Teaser: Treat each entry as a near miss, with its opening letter hiding the intended league connection.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Last Four Teams To Win A Super Bowl): CHIEFS, EAGLES, RAMS, SEAHAWKS
SEAHAWKS, EAGLES, CHIEFS, and RAMS form LAST FOUR TEAMS TO WIN A SUPER BOWL, the championship sequence identified by the puzzle.
BUCCANEERS is the clean red herring, another Super Bowl-winning franchise that belongs in the regional set here.
Green (Tampa Bay-Area Teams): BUCCANEERS, LIGHTNING, RAYS, SOUTH FLORIDA
BUCCANEERS, LIGHTNING, RAYS, and SOUTH FLORIDA are TAMPA BAY-AREA TEAMS. The set crosses professional football, hockey, baseball, and University of South Florida athletics.
LIGHTNING creates a genuine hockey pull toward WINGS, but WINGS belongs to the letter-change construction instead.
Blue (Matt _____): FORTE, HOLLIDAY, PAINTER, RYAN
PAINTER, FORTE, RYAN, and HOLLIDAY complete MATT _____, producing Matt Painter, Matt Forte, Matt Ryan, and Matt Holliday.
FORTE and RYAN can suggest a football-only pair, but PAINTER and HOLLIDAY expose the shared-name mechanism across sports.
Purple (Nba Teams, With The First Letter Changed): BAKERS, RACERS, SLIPPERS, WINGS
RACERS, SLIPPERS, BAKERS, and WINGS are NBA TEAMS, WITH THE FIRST LETTER CHANGED. Replacing the opening letter yields PACERS, CLIPPERS, LAKERS, and KINGS.
WINGS is the craftiest decoy because its hockey association feels complete before the KINGS transformation becomes visible.
The Verdict
Yellow is the cleanest first solve once the recent championship sequence clicks.
The real trap lives in football: BUCCANEERS crowds the championship candidates, while FORTE and RYAN encourage a player-based detour.
Purple is the streak-decider, since all four altered words read naturally before their NBA identities emerge.
Reset and Repeat
Today’s opening-letter swaps reward a full reset after every solved group. Come back tomorrow for another grid and another trick hiding in plain sight.
For now, puzzle #689 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
