Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 256, for June 6.
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.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition could be tricky. That purple category requires some real letter gymnastics. 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: Milwaukee player, for example.
Green group hint: Gridiron goof.
Blue group hint: Fire it in there!
Purple group hint: Shake up words for sports.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: An NL Central player.
Green group: Football penalties.
Blue group: Attributes for a pitcher.
Purple group: Sports, with a letter changed.
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 June 6, 2025, #256
NYT/Screenshot by CNETThe yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is an NL Central player. The four answers are Brewer, Cub, Pirate and Red.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is football penalties. The four answers are clipping, face mask, holding and offside.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is attributes for a pitcher. The four answers are command, control, stamina and velocity.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is sports, with a letter changed. The four answers are boiling, boring, gulf and skimming.
Boiling=bowling
Boring=boxing
Gulf=golf
Skimming=swimming
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.
Gael Cooper
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