NYT Sports Connections Puzzle

New York Times Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 573 landed Sunday, April 19, with categories built around baseball teams, football positions, Premier League managers, and old Dodgers nicknames. (technobezz.com) Connections: Sports Edition uses the same basic format as the main Connections game: 16 words, four groups of four, and one daily reset at 12 a.m. Eastern. The sports version is produced with The Athletic and asks players to sort terms that share a sports link. (aol.com) For April 19, the published hints pointed solvers toward “Play ball!,” “Gridiron roles,” “Like Ted Lasso,” and “LA team that came from Brooklyn.” CNET and Yahoo both listed the finished categories as American League East teams, first words of football positions, Premier League managers, and nicknames for the Dodgers franchise over time. (cnet.com) (tech.yahoo.com) The baseball group leaned on current club names, while the purple group reached into franchise history. Reported solutions for that Dodgers set included Bridegrooms, Dodgers, Robins, and Superbas, names tied to different eras of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles franchise. (usintimes.com) That mix is the point of the sports edition: one board can ask for present-day league knowledge and century-old trivia in the same round. Technobezz said Sunday’s puzzle especially favored Major League Baseball history and team-name wordplay. (technobezz.com) The football and soccer groups were more direct but still depended on category recognition, not just memorizing names. Published answer lists identified “defensive,” “running,” “tight,” and “wide” as the opening words of football positions, and Emery, Guardiola, Moyes, and Slot as Premier League managers. (usintimes.com) The puzzle sits inside a larger New York Times games lineup that already includes Wordle, Strands, and the Mini Crossword. Parade described Connections: Sports Edition as a sports-specific spinoff that adds another daily stop for readers who already follow those games. (parade.com) The Athletic and The New York Times have also used the format beyond the daily board. In September 2025, The New York Times Company said The Athletic released 32 football team-specific Connections: Sports Edition puzzles tied to National Football League fandom and coverage. (nytco.com) Sunday’s No. 573 worked as a quick sports quiz, but it also showed how the game keeps widening the definition of sports knowledge — from division standings to managerial surnames to franchise aliases that disappeared decades ago. (technobezz.com)