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NYT Sports Connections Practice Board

NYT Sports Connections keeps the 16-word grid and limits every category to sports. This practice board does the same with original groups: nicknames, golf scores, venues, and a word that is missing from the tiles.

DataForSEO Labs recorded about 74,000 monthly searches for nyt sports connections in the October 1, 2026 sample, at a keyword difficulty of 4. The intent is navigational. People want the sports grid, not a general word list. The daily practice board is still the Connections NYT page. This one is the sports set.

The color order is unchanged, so the hint method still applies: take the team names before you hunt for wordplay.

Sports board

4 mistakes left.

The four groups

This sports board keeps the same four-color ladder as a daily Connections grid, with every category inside sports. The team nicknames are the straight group. Golf scores are next. Arena, dome, field, and park are places a game is played, not events. Basket, base, foot, and volley only meet when you add BALL. Field is the word that looks like it belongs with the ball sports and does not.

  1. NBA team nicknames

    LAKERS, CELTICS, KNICKS, NETS

    Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, and Nets are NBA team nicknames.

  2. Golf scores

    PAR, BIRDIE, EAGLE, BOGEY

    Par, birdie, eagle, and bogey are golf scores.

  3. Places a game is played

    ARENA, DOME, FIELD, PARK

    Arena, dome, field, and park are places a game is played.

  4. Words before BALL

    BASKET, BASE, FOOT, VOLLEY

    Basketball, baseball, football, and volleyball.

Questions

What is NYT Sports Connections?

The Times publishes a sports edition that uses the Connections grid: 16 words, four groups, four mistakes, yellow through purple. Every category is about sports. This page is a practice board in that spirit, with original groups.

Are the rules different from the daily game?

No. You still submit four words at a time. One away still costs a mistake. The only change is the subject: teams, scores, venues, and sports names.

What is the hard group on this board?

The purple group is four words that come before BALL. The venues group is the one that steals field if you sort by sport names too early.