Get ready for the NCAA championship Monday night with hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 196, for April 7.
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.
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Connections: Sports Edition might be tough today, but once I saw “horse-collar,” I was able to crack at least one of the categories. Read on for some hints, and the answers to today’s puzzle.
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: Crush it.
Green group hint: Hoopster.
Blue group hint: On the mic.
Purple group hint: Not the fishing kind.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: To hit a baseball hard.
Green group: An NBA player.
Blue group: Famous broadcasters.
Purple group: ____ tackle.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The completed NYT Connections Sports Edition puzzle for April 7, 2025, #196.
NYT/Screenshot by CNETThe yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is to hit a baseball hard. The four answers are belt, blister, hammer and tattoo.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is an NBA player. The four answers are Cavalier, Knick, Net and Piston.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is famous broadcasters. The four answers are Buck, Eagle, Michaels and Nantz.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ____ tackle. The four answers are horse-collar, left, nose and slide.
Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories
The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.
That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing recently.
#1: Series A Clubs, Jan. 11. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.
#2: WNBA MVPs, Jan. 21. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.
#3: Premier League team nicknames, Jan. 17. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.
#4: Homophones of NBA player names, Jan. 26. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.
Gael Cooper
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