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Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. It helps to be very familiar with a certain football player’s career. 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: Fun for kids.
Green group hint: Sports cinema.
Blue group hint: No. 20.
Purple group hint: Not silver.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Playground games.
Green group: One-word sports movies.
Blue group: Associated with Ed Reed.
Purple group: Golden ____.
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. 19, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is playground games. The four answers are four square, hopscotch, kickball and tag.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is one-word sports movies. The four answers are Hoosiers, Invictus, Rudy and Seabiscuit.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is associated with Ed Reed. The four answers are Hall of Fame, Hurricanes, Ravens and safety.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is golden ____. The four answers are boot, goal, Knights and sombrero.
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