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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features some tricky terms. 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: Checkmate!
Green group hint: Think Nadia Comăneci.
Blue group hint: Soccer stars.
Purple group hint: H2O.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Chess pieces.
Green group: Gymnastics terms.
Blue group: Premier League Golden Boot winners.
Purple group: Water ____.
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. 29, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is chess pieces. The four answers are bishop, pawn, queen and rook.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is gymnastics terms. The four answers are handspring, round-off, salto and twist.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Premier League Golden Boot winners. The four answers are
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is water ____. The four answers are bottle, boy, hazard and polo.
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