Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 22, #180

There’s a slight international accent to today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 180, for March 22.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials

• Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won “Headline Writer of the Year”​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition is kind of all over the place today. Some categories are simple, but that purple category is only easy if you’re a huge fan of British soccer. Or football. Or footy. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.  

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Fun in the cold.

Green group hint: Return to form.

Blue group hint: Boys of summer activities.

Purple group hint: Bosses on the pitch.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Equipment for snow activities.

Green group: Bounce back.

Blue group: Baseball verbs in past tense.

Purple group: First names of Premier League managers.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is equipment for snow activities. The four answers are ski, sled, snowboard and tube.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is bounce back. The four answers are comeback, rally, rebound and recovery.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is baseball verbs in past tense. The four answers are caught, dove, slid and threw.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is first names of Premier League managers. The four answers are Ange, Enzo, Nuno and Pep.

Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition

#1: Don’t grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?

#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.

#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it’s also the last name of at least one pro athlete.