Today’s New York Times word games Connections: Sports Edition #566 is all about arms — specifically, the kind you throw with, cheer with, and retire to Cooperstown. If you’re a baseball fan, today is your day. If not, keep reading — you’ll still find everything you need here.
What Is NYT Connections: Sports Edition?
Connections: Sports Edition is a daily word puzzle from the New York Times, developed in partnership with The Athletic. It follows the exact same format as the original Connections game: 16 words are arranged on a board, and your job is to sort them into four groups of four, each sharing a hidden common thread.
The catch — and the fun — is that words are deliberately chosen to mislead you. Several words could plausibly belong to multiple categories, and only one grouping is correct. Guess incorrectly and you burn one of your four allowed mistakes. Get all four groups right and you solve the puzzle.
Each category is color-coded by difficulty. Yellow is the easiest group, green is moderate, blue is harder, and purple is the trickiest. You can shuffle the board at any time to look for patterns, and you can share your results on social media without spoiling the answers.
How to Play
- Group four words that share a common sports theme — not just any connection, but a specific, precise one.
- Each word belongs to exactly one group. No overlaps, no tricks once you find the right lens.
- Wrong guesses count as mistakes. You get four total before the game ends.
- Start with the category you’re most confident about to bank a confirmed group and narrow the board.
🟨🟩🟦🟪 Category Hints — No Answers Yet
Not ready for the full reveal? Here are vague clues for each color group:
- 🟨 Yellow: Think about what a stadium full of fans does when something amazing happens on the field.
- 🟩 Green: These are cities in the American South — specifically, ones that host major college football programs in a particular athletic conference.
- 🟦 Blue: These four words are last names. Each belongs to a pitcher so dominant, so legendary, they earned permanent recognition in a famous upstate New York museum.
- 🟪 Purple: The theme here isn’t legs or feet — think upper body. Each word becomes a specific type of “arm” when you add that word after it.
Category Names — Getting Warmer
Still working through it? Here are the actual category titles, still without the words:
- 🟨 EXPRESSION OF APPROVAL
- 🟩 SEC CITIES
- 🟦 HALL OF FAME PITCHERS
- 🟪 ____ ARM
The purple category is the one most likely to trip people up today. The SEC Cities group is also tricky because these city names pull double duty — one of them is also a famous surname, and another is a word that looks like it could fit another category entirely.
Full Answers for Connections Sports Edition #566
Scroll down only when you’re ready — this is the full reveal.
- 🟨 EXPRESSION OF APPROVAL — APPLAUSE, CLAPPING, HAND, OVATION
- 🟩 SEC CITIES — AUBURN, AUSTIN, COLLEGE STATION, OXFORD
- 🟦 HALL OF FAME PITCHERS — FELLER, FINGERS, GROVE, PLANK
- 🟪 ____ ARM — DEAD, FORE, SIDE, STIFF
What Made Today Tricky
Puzzle #566 had some genuinely clever misdirection baked in.
The word HAND is the sneaky one in the yellow group. At first glance it looks nothing like APPLAUSE or OVATION — but a “hand” is absolutely a form of applause (“give them a hand”), which makes it fit perfectly once you see it. Many solvers will try to shove HAND into the purple ____ ARM category, since “hand” relates to the arm. That’s the trap.
FINGERS is similarly slippery. Rollie Fingers was a legendary Hall of Fame relief pitcher, but the word “fingers” also relates to hands and arms, making it easy to conflate with the purple category.
OXFORD in the SEC Cities group may also confuse players who associate the name with England. But Oxford, Mississippi is home to Ole Miss — a full SEC member — making it a correct fit.
The purple ____ ARM group (DEAD, FORE, SIDE, STIFF) is the hardest of the four. DEAD ARM, FOREARM, SIDEARM, and STIFF ARM are all real compound words or phrases, but arriving at “forearm” from just “FORE” requires a specific mental leap that many players won’t make immediately.
Tips for Today’s Puzzle
- Start with yellow. APPLAUSE, CLAPPING, and OVATION are obvious synonyms — once you add HAND as the fourth, you’re off to a clean start and the board immediately gets less cluttered.
- Don’t let FINGERS fool you. It belongs with the Hall of Fame Pitchers, not the ARM group. Rollie Fingers is in Cooperstown; the word “fingers” just happens to be part of the human arm.
- Know your SEC geography. Auburn (Alabama), Austin (Texas), College Station (Texas), and Oxford (Mississippi) are all home to Southeastern Conference schools. If you’re not a college football fan, this one may require some trust.
- Work backwards on purple. Try pairing DEAD, FORE, SIDE, and STIFF with “ARM” out loud. DEAD ARM (a numb throwing arm), FOREARM, SIDEARM (a throwing style), and STIFF ARM (a blocking move) all check out.
More Daily Puzzle Answers
Looking for more puzzle help from today or recent days? Check out these guides:
- April 11, 2026 NYT Connections Sports Edition #565 Hints and Answers
- April 10, 2026 NYT Connections Sports Edition #564 Hints and Answers
- April 8, 2026 NYT Connections Sports Edition #562 Hints and Answers
- April 11, 2026 Wordle #1757 Hint and Answer
- April 11, 2026 NYT Connections Puzzle #1035 Hints and Answers
- April 11, 2026 NYT Strands Hints and Answers
- April 11, 2026 Hurdle Hints and Answers
Shahid Maqsood is a digital entrepreneur and SEO specialist focused on building engaging web experiences. He is the creator of DotWordle, combining creativity with smart, user-friendly design.
