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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The purple category requires you to mentally add some letters to four words to turn them into sports-related words. If you’re struggling with the 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: Not going up.
Green group hint: Gridiron plan.
Blue group hint: Pacific Northwest teams.
Purple group hint: Add two letters to form a baseball team’s name.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Slide.
Green group: Football running plays.
Blue group: An Oregon athlete.
Purple group: MLB teams, minus the last two letters.
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 May 18, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is slide. The four answers are decline, dip, downturn and slump.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is football running plays. The four answers are counter, dive, draw and sweep.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is an Oregon athlete. The four answers are Beaver, Duck, Thorn and Timber.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is MLB teams, minus the last two letters. The four answers are ange (Angels), dodge (Dodgers), marine (Mariners) and range (Rangers)