The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #722, serving up a grid that spans big sporting moments, celebrated names, and phrases whose surface meanings pull in competing directions.
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 #722:
HOME RUN TROT | HOME RUN BAKER | OPENING BELL | COOL PAPA BELL
RING WALK | CRYSTAL PALACE | CURTAIN CALL | DIZZY DEAN
NOTTINGHAM FOREST | DUGOUT CELEBRATION | QUEENS PARK RANGERS | WEIGH-IN
PRESS CONFERENCE | PIE TRAYNOR | BAT FLIP | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about the sequence of reactions that can follow one especially decisive piece of play.
Green Category Clue: Look for milestones surrounding the buildup to a one-on-one sporting contest.
Blue Category Hint: Several entries point toward celebrated figures from an earlier sporting era.
Purple Category Teaser: Read the longer phrases as proper names rather than literal combinations of ordinary words.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
---
---
---
---
---
Yellow (Events After A Home Run): BAT FLIP, CURTAIN CALL, DUGOUT CELEBRATION, HOME RUN TROT
BAT FLIP, HOME RUN TROT, DUGOUT CELEBRATION, and CURTAIN CALL are EVENTS AFTER A HOME RUN, covering the batter's flourish, trip around the bases, team response, and acknowledgment from the crowd.
HOME RUN BAKER is the deliberate trap because it shares the opening words of HOME RUN TROT but belongs with the honored players instead.
Green (Part Of The Run-Up To A Boxing Match): OPENING BELL, PRESS CONFERENCE, RING WALK, WEIGH-IN
WEIGH-IN, PRESS CONFERENCE, RING WALK, and OPENING BELL are each PART OF THE RUN-UP TO A BOXING MATCH, tracing the promotion and preparation through the start of the contest.
OPENING BELL pulls toward COOL PAPA BELL through the shared final word BELL, but only the latter belongs in the player group.
Blue (Baseball Hall Of Famers): COOL PAPA BELL, DIZZY DEAN, HOME RUN BAKER, PIE TRAYNOR
COOL PAPA BELL, PIE TRAYNOR, DIZZY DEAN, and HOME RUN BAKER are BASEBALL HALL OF FAMERS.
The nicknames and descriptive-looking phrases disguise four complete player names, while BELL and HOME RUN also echo entries assigned elsewhere in the grid.
Purple (English Soccer Clubs): CRYSTAL PALACE, NOTTINGHAM FOREST, QUEENS PARK RANGERS, SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
CRYSTAL PALACE, SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY, NOTTINGHAM FOREST, and QUEENS PARK RANGERS are ENGLISH SOCCER CLUBS.
The trick is grammatical camouflage: palace, Wednesday, forest, and rangers all read naturally as ordinary nouns until each full phrase is treated as a club name.
The Verdict
The yellow set offers the cleanest first foothold because its four entries form a recognizable sequence of reactions after one scoring play.
The real trap sits at the intersection of HOME RUN TROT and HOME RUN BAKER, with OPENING BELL and COOL PAPA BELL creating a second tempting pair.
Purple is the streak-deciding group, since its entries look like unrelated places, days, landscapes, and people until their proper-name reading clicks.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow brings a fresh grid and another reset, but today's paired echoes of HOME RUN and BELL are the trick worth remembering. Come back ready to question every phrase that seems to match too neatly.
For now, puzzle #722 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
