The New York Times’ Connections puzzle, in its Sports Edition for January 3rd (#467), presented a challenging set of word associations. The puzzle, published by The Athletic, requires players to group words into four categories based on shared themes. Today’s edition tested knowledge across football, baseball, film, and even meteorological events.
Category Breakdown and Solutions
Here’s how the groups broke down, from easiest to most difficult:
- Yellow: Football Helmet Components – The four words linked by this category were chin strap, face mask, padding, and shell. These are all essential parts of standard football helmets.
- Green: Baseball Pitches – This group consisted of changeup, cutter, slider, and splitter. These represent a variety of techniques used by pitchers to deceive batters.
- Blue: Actors Nominated for Boxing Roles – The correct answers were De Niro, Stallone, Swank, and Washington. All four actors received Academy Award nominations for their portrayals of boxers in Raging Bull, Rocky, Million Dollar Baby, and Southpaw respectively.
- Purple: Storm Names – This proved to be the most difficult grouping, with the answers being court, Hannah, Red, and Seattle. These are all names of major storms that have occurred in the past.
Puzzle Accessibility
The Connections puzzle is available through The Athletic app or directly on The Athletic ‘s website, though it does not appear in the standard NYT Games app. The puzzle is free to play online.
This edition highlighted the broad range of knowledge required for success in the Connections format, testing both sports trivia and pop culture awareness. The puzzle’s difficulty underscores the growing popularity of these word association challenges.
