The Sunday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #706, serving up a grid that moves through physical movement, sideline strategy, European competition, and pro basketball roster knowledge.
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 #706:
NICE | CHAMPAGNIE | CASTLE | LENS
ATHLETIC | NICKEL | PREVENT | ANGERS
COVER 2 | SPRIGHTLY | WEMBANYAMA | 4-3
VASSELL | LILLE | LITHE | LIMBER
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Read some entries less as sports labels and more as descriptions of how a competitor can look in motion.
Green Category Clue: Shift from individual competitors to the language coaches use when arranging a unit without the ball.
Blue Category Hint: Look across the Atlantic and consider which entries could appear as names in a domestic league table.
Purple Category Teaser: The final connection rewards current professional roster knowledge, with surnames doing the heavy lifting.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Agile): ATHLETIC, LIMBER, LITHE, SPRIGHTLY
ATHLETIC, LIMBER, LITHE, and SPRIGHTLY form AGILE, with all four describing ease, energy, or flexibility in movement.
ATHLETIC is the chief red herring because it also sounds at home in a club name, while the other three steer more cleanly toward movement.
Green (Football Defensive Terms): 4-3, COVER 2, NICKEL, PREVENT
4-3, COVER 2, NICKEL, and PREVENT are FOOTBALL DEFENSIVE TERMS.
The set mixes a front alignment, a coverage, a personnel package, and a late-game defensive approach. NICKEL and PREVENT disguise the connection particularly well because both have familiar everyday meanings.
Blue (Ligue 1 Clubs): ANGERS, LENS, LILLE, NICE
ANGERS, NICE, LENS, and LILLE are LIGUE 1 CLUBS.
Their ordinary appearances create the camouflage: NICE reads as an adjective, LENS as an object, and ANGERS as a verb before the French club-name connection clicks.
Purple (San Antonio Spurs): CASTLE, CHAMPAGNIE, VASSELL, WEMBANYAMA
CHAMPAGNIE, CASTLE, WEMBANYAMA, and VASSELL form SAN ANTONIO SPURS, each entry being a player surname from the roster.
CASTLE supplies the strongest disguise because it reads first as a common noun, while WEMBANYAMA is the anchor that reveals the roster route.
The Verdict
The yellow group should fall first once LIMBER, LITHE, and SPRIGHTLY are read as movement descriptions.
The real trap sits among the ordinary-looking entries, especially NICE, LENS, NICKEL, PREVENT, and CASTLE, which conceal three different sports connections behind everyday meanings.
Purple is the streak-deciding group because WEMBANYAMA points toward the right franchise, but CHAMPAGNIE, CASTLE, and VASSELL still demand roster depth.
Reset and Repeat
Today's sharpest move was using WEMBANYAMA as the roster key while refusing to let CASTLE's everyday meaning pull the set apart. Reset the grid instincts and come back tomorrow for another round.
For now, puzzle #706 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
