The Thursday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #710, serving up a grid that stretches across game-day rituals, notable locations, football pedigrees, and a sharp geographic wordplay device.
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 #710:
PEBBLE BEACH | WARMUPS | DEVIN HESTER | COIN TOSS
PIERRE GARÇON | REGGIE WAYNE | AUGUSTA NATIONAL | TEAM ARRIVALS
INTUIT DOME | ED REED | VINNY TESTAVERDE | MADISON KEYS
LEVI'S STADIUM | NATIONAL ANTHEM | TORREY PINES | AUSTIN REAVES
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about the familiar sequence surrounding a major game before the action officially begins.
Green Category Clue: Let geography carry more weight than the specific sport associated with each place.
Blue Category Hint: A shared college connection matters more than the professional teams associated with these athletes.
Purple Category Teaser: Study the opening portion of each entry and look for a shared civic pattern.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Events Before A Football Kickoff): COIN TOSS, NATIONAL ANTHEM, TEAM ARRIVALS, WARMUPS
WARMUPS, COIN TOSS, NATIONAL ANTHEM, and TEAM ARRIVALS are EVENTS BEFORE A FOOTBALL KICKOFF. They describe parts of the buildup rather than the game action itself.
NATIONAL ANTHEM has a tempting surface connection to AUGUSTA NATIONAL through the repeated word, but that repetition does not define either group.
Green (California Sporting Venues): INTUIT DOME, LEVI'S STADIUM, PEBBLE BEACH, TORREY PINES
PEBBLE BEACH, TORREY PINES, INTUIT DOME, and LEVI'S STADIUM are CALIFORNIA SPORTING VENUES. The set crosses golf, basketball, and football, so location is the binding detail.
AUGUSTA NATIONAL is the deliberate venue-shaped decoy, but it belongs elsewhere because it does not satisfy the California requirement.
Blue (Miami (fl) Alumni): DEVIN HESTER, ED REED, REGGIE WAYNE, VINNY TESTAVERDE
REGGIE WAYNE, ED REED, VINNY TESTAVERDE, and DEVIN HESTER are MIAMI (FL) ALUMNI. Their varied professional careers disguise the common college program.
PIERRE GARÇON is the strongest football-player decoy, while AUSTIN REAVES and MADISON KEYS reinforce the broader field of athlete names without sharing the alumni link.
Purple (Starts With A State Capital): AUGUSTA NATIONAL, AUSTIN REAVES, MADISON KEYS, PIERRE GARÇON
AUSTIN REAVES, AUGUSTA NATIONAL, MADISON KEYS, and PIERRE GARÇON form STARTS WITH A STATE CAPITAL. Austin, Augusta, Madison, and Pierre are the respective capitals of Texas, Maine, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.
The trick works across a basketball player, a golf venue, a tennis player, and a football player, making the shared beginnings easier to miss than their sporting identities.
The Verdict
The yellow group is the cleanest first solve because all four entries fit one recognizable pregame sequence.
The central trap is AUGUSTA NATIONAL sharing the grid with four California venue names, with PIERRE GARÇON adding another persuasive football connection alongside the Miami alumni.
Purple is the streak-decider because recognizing four capital names at the starts requires abandoning sport-based sorting at exactly the right moment.
Reset and Repeat
Today's capital-name construction is the trick worth carrying forward, a reminder to inspect the edges of entries when their full meanings refuse to align. Reset the grid tomorrow and look for the same kind of structural pivot.
For now, puzzle #710 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
