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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features one of those classic — and difficult — purple categories. You’ll need to look for words inside of words to get that grouping. (Or just solve the other three, and get purple by default.) If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Maybe on the beach.
Green group hint: Deal me in.
Blue group hint: Not necessarily Jim.
Purple group hint: Look at the final part of the words.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Volleyball terms.
Green group: Poker terms.
Blue group: Jameses.
Purple group: Ends in an NWSL team.
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 Edtion puzzle for Dec. 1, 2025.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is volleyball terms. The four answers are dig, serve, set and spike.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is poker terms. The four answers are blind, flop, river and turn.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Jameses.The four answers are Cook, Harden, Shields and Worthy.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ends in an NWSL team.The four answers are balderdash (Houston Dash), concurrent (Kansas City Current), foreign (Seattle Reign) and microwave (San Diego Wave).
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