The Monday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #735, serving up a grid that ranges from college competition to professional careers and a sharp bit of 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 #735:
BULLDOG | THUNDERSTORM | DAYDREAM | SLEEPER
HUSKY | TIGER | YAHOO | SHOUGH
HURTS | GRIMACES | LOCK | ESPN
GATOR | DALTON | FANTRAX | RAZORBACK
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about the language of college competition and the identities schools carry onto the field.
Green Category Clue: Consider where fans organize a season from a screen.
Blue Category Hint: Look back to a career milestone that comes before a player takes a professional snap.
Purple Category Teaser: Pay attention to the final letters of certain entries.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (An SEC Athlete): BULLDOG, GATOR, RAZORBACK, TIGER
RAZORBACK, BULLDOG, GATOR, and TIGER each name an SEC athlete by the mascot of their school.
HUSKY looks at home among animal mascots, but it belongs to the ending trick instead.
Green (Fantasy Football Apps): ESPN, FANTRAX, SLEEPER, YAHOO
ESPN, YAHOO, SLEEPER, and FANTRAX are all fantasy football apps.
SLEEPER and DAYDREAM suggest a tempting sleep theme, but DAYDREAM has a different job in this grid.
Blue (NFL QBs Drafted In Second Round): DALTON, HURTS, LOCK, SHOUGH
HURTS, LOCK, SHOUGH, and DALTON are NFL quarterbacks drafted in the second round.
HURTS and GRIMACES can read like a pair of reactions to pain, but draft history separates them.
Purple (Ends In A WNBA Team): DAYDREAM, GRIMACES, HUSKY, THUNDERSTORM
Each word ends with a WNBA team name: HUSKY ends in SKY, DAYDREAM in DREAM, THUNDERSTORM in STORM, and GRIMACES in ACES.
The Verdict
The college mascots offer the clearest opening, once HUSKY is set aside.
The real traps are HUSKY beside the mascots and the apparent sleep link between SLEEPER and DAYDREAM.
The ending trick is the deciding test, since it gives four otherwise mismatched words one precise connection.
Reset and Repeat
Once SKY, DREAM, STORM, and ACES come into view, the stray words click into place. Reset tomorrow and see what the next grid hides in plain sight.
For now, puzzle #735 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
