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Today's Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one, with a mix of topics and difficulties. 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: Take the place of.
Green group hint: Hang ten!
Blue group hint: Honored pitchers.
Purple group hint: Baseball beginnings.
Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Substitute.
Green group: Surfing terms.
Blue group: AL Cy Young Award winners.
Purple group: Starts of MLB team names.
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 Feb. 27, 2026.
The yellow words in today's Connections
The theme is substitute. The four answers are pull, replace, take out and yank.
The green words in today's Connections
The theme is surfing terms. The four answers are barrel, crest, swell and wave.
The blue words in today's Connections
The theme is AL Cy Young Award winners. The four answers are Bieber, Cone, Fingers and Price.
The purple words in today's Connections
The theme is starts of MLB team names. The four answers are Blue, Brew, Card and Rock.
Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition
#1: Don't grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?
#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.
#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it's also the last name of at least one pro athlete.