The Wednesday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #758, serving up a mix of athletic technique, sporting geography and familiar vocabulary with a second sporting meaning. The challenge is knowing when to follow your sports knowledge and when to read the words differently.
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 #758:
FREE THROW | LINE | BLUES | DRIVER
GOLDEN | JACKETS | DUNK | DEVILS
ALLEY-OOP | ADAMS | BILLIKENS | JAYS
CARDINALS | FADEAWAY | ST. LOUIS CITY | NELSON
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about the different ways an athlete can finish a scoring opportunity.
Green Category Clue: A shared home can matter more than a shared sport.
Blue Category Hint: Career history matters more than the everyday meanings of the entries.
Purple Category Teaser: Try supplying the same missing word before each candidate.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Basketball Shots): ALLEY-OOP, DUNK, FADEAWAY, FREE THROW
ALLEY-OOP, DUNK, FADEAWAY and FREE THROW form the basketball shots group. Each names a way to attempt a basket.
LINE is the nearby temptation because of the free throw line. It names a court marking rather than a shot, which gives you a clean reason to leave it out.
Green (St. Louis Teams): BILLIKENS, BLUES, CARDINALS, ST. LOUIS CITY
BLUES, CARDINALS, BILLIKENS and ST. LOUIS CITY belong together as St. Louis teams. Geography supplies the connection across different sports.
Blue (Packers WRs, Past And Present): ADAMS, DRIVER, GOLDEN, NELSON
DRIVER, GOLDEN, ADAMS and NELSON are surnames of Packers wide receivers, past and present. The shared franchise and position make this a roster-history connection.
Purple (Blue _____): DEVILS, JACKETS, JAYS, LINE
Put BLUE before JAYS, JACKETS, LINE and DEVILS to get Blue Jays, Blue Jackets, blue line and Blue Devils. Three results are team names, while blue line is a hockey term, so looking only for teams leaves the connection incomplete.
The Verdict
Yellow offers the clearest opening, with four recognizable scoring terms, while green rewards checking geography across sports. The sharpest trap is LINE beside FREE THROW, a natural phrase that crosses the puzzle's group boundaries.
Blue is the strongest test of specialist knowledge because it asks you to recognize Packers receiving history. Purple is the streak-deciding shift in approach, especially if the team-name results keep you from accepting LINE as the fourth match.
Reset and Repeat
Take today's BLUE trick into tomorrow's grid as a reminder to test what a word can complete. Come back tomorrow for another set of hints and a fresh chance to spot the connection before committing.
For now, puzzle #758 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.