The Saturday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #740, serving up a grid that spans sporting vocabulary, local loyalties, individual honors, and a final bit of letter play.
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 #740:
RED | LOBSTER | BLUE | TROUT
BENGAL | EAGLE | HURLEY | JUDGE
BOGEY | BEARCAT | KILLEBREW | ALBATROSS
MUSKETEER | SLINGSHOT | BIRDIE | HEAVEN
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about the language used to measure a performance.
Green Category Clue: Local loyalties can link identities across different sports.
Blue Category Hint: Think about individual honors and the names attached to them.
Purple Category Teaser: Look closely at the opening letters rather than the whole meaning.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
---
---
---
---
---
Yellow (Golf Scoring Terms): ALBATROSS, BIRDIE, BOGEY, EAGLE
ALBATROSS, EAGLE, BIRDIE, and BOGEY describe golf scores relative to par: three under, two under, one under, and one over, respectively. The animal associations of ALBATROSS and EAGLE offer a distraction alongside TROUT, BENGAL, and LOBSTER, but the scoring vocabulary gives this set a precise boundary.
Green (Cincinnati Teams, Minus The S): BEARCAT, BENGAL, MUSKETEER, RED
RED, BENGAL, BEARCAT, and MUSKETEER become Cincinnati team names when you restore a final S: the Reds, Bengals, University of Cincinnati Bearcats, and Xavier Musketeers. RED also pairs naturally with BLUE as a color and with LOBSTER as a restaurant name, so those familiar associations can pull attention away from the local connection.
Blue (American League MVPs): BLUE, JUDGE, KILLEBREW, TROUT
TROUT, JUDGE, KILLEBREW, and BLUE point to American League MVP winners Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Harmon Killebrew, and Vida Blue. BLUE is the key identity shift: reading it as a surname breaks its tempting color pairing with RED.
Purple (Starts With A Synonym For Throw): HEAVEN, HURLEY, LOBSTER, SLINGSHOT
LOBSTER, HURLEY, SLINGSHOT, and HEAVEN begin with LOB, HURL, SLING, and HEAVE, all synonyms for throw. The shared action sits inside the opening letters, so each word's full meaning is a distraction.
The Verdict
The golf group offers the clearest first foothold, while the Cincinnati set asks for both local sports knowledge and a small spelling adjustment. The sharpest trap is RED: its links to BLUE and LOBSTER are immediately familiar, yet neither leads to its assigned group.
This is a demanding mix of sports recall and close reading, with Vida Blue's surname testing recognition before the final wordplay clicks. Purple is the streak-deciding group in my view, because HEAVEN gives little help until you isolate HEAVE.
Reset and Repeat
Take today's HEAVEN-to-HEAVE trick into the next grid: when whole-word meanings stall, inspect the beginnings. Come back tomorrow for another fresh set of connections.
For now, puzzle #740 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
