The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #757, serving up a grid that spans court vocabulary, campus knowledge, and football history. The sharpest challenge is deciding when a familiar name needs a different reading.
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 #757:
TRIPLE-DOUBLES | STUFFS | BRODIE | HAWAII
UCLA | NEVADA | MONTANA | DENIES
GARCIA | 0 | BLOCKS | WYOMING
NEW MEXICO | SWATS | YOUNG | OKLAHOMA CITY
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Listen for the language of a defender winning an exchange.
Green Category Clue: Think about the structure of college athletics, rather than a map alone.
Blue Category Hint: Football history offers a useful lens for reading the names.
Purple Category Teaser: Different kinds of biographical clues can point toward the same athlete.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Rejects A Shot): BLOCKS, DENIES, STUFFS, SWATS
BLOCKS, STUFFS, SWATS, and DENIES all fit REJECTS A SHOT. Each describes a defender stopping an attempt.
Green (Mountain West Schools): HAWAII, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, WYOMING
WYOMING, NEVADA, HAWAII, and NEW MEXICO form MOUNTAIN WEST SCHOOLS. The connection is their college athletics affiliation.
MONTANA creates the geographic temptation because it is also a state name, while UCLA offers another college name. Neither belongs in this conference group.
Blue (49ers Career Passing Leaders): BRODIE, GARCIA, MONTANA, YOUNG
MONTANA, BRODIE, YOUNG, and GARCIA belong together as 49ERS CAREER PASSING LEADERS. These entries need to be read as football surnames.
MONTANA is the hinge between the football answer and the tempting state-name collection. Recognizing the surname gives it a clear home and helps untangle green.
Purple (Associated With Russell Westbrook): 0, OKLAHOMA CITY, TRIPLE-DOUBLES, UCLA
0, OKLAHOMA CITY, UCLA, and TRIPLE-DOUBLES make up ASSOCIATED WITH RUSSELL WESTBROOK. Westbrook is the shared reference linking all four entries.
The trick is accepting different forms of association within one set. UCLA is especially useful to hold loosely, since its college identity can pull attention toward green.
The Verdict
Yellow is the clearest starting point because its defensive verbs share a direct meaning. Green and blue create the sharper sorting problem, with MONTANA tempting a geography-based guess.
Purple is the streak-deciding group here: its entries ask for an athlete connection across different kinds of clues. Keeping UCLA available until that connection emerges is the strongest protection against a premature college grouping.
Reset and Repeat
Take today's MONTANA switch into the next grid: a place name can become a surname as soon as the surrounding clues change. Come back tomorrow for another chance to test that flexibility.
For now, puzzle #757 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.