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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The purple category hopes you not only know a certain team’s iconic players, but you will recognize their names with a different letter. 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: No points for you!
Green group hint: Italian league.
Blue group hint: Put up your dukes.
Purple group hint: The Bronx Bombers.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Reject a shot.
Green group: Serie A teams.
Blue group: Benches-clearing brawl.
Purple group: Yankees greats, with the first 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 Jan. 15, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is reject a shot. The four answers are block, deny, stuff and swat.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is Serie A teams. The four answers are Bologna, Como, Juventus and Roma.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is benches-clearing brawl. The four answers are brouhaha, fight, fracas and rhubarb.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is Yankees greats, with the first letter changed. The four answers are fudge (Aaron Judge), meter (Derek Jeter), terra (Yogi Berra) and word (Whitey Ford).
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