Connections: Sports Edition for July 5, 2026, asks players to sort 16 words into four clean groups, and this board lands at a 3 out of 5 on difficulty. The puzzle mixes familiar sports terms with a trickier purple category that leans on wordplay rather than pure sports knowledge.
The Athletic’s daily game gives one solution only, so every clue matters. For players who want a nudge before giving up the board, the four category hints point to hockey equipment, NBA guards, European soccer leagues, and a wordplay group built around a DC team.
Today’s category hints
| Color | Hint | Example clue |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Hockey equipment | PUCK |
| Green | NBA guards | BALL |
| Blue | European soccer leagues | EREDIVISIE |
| Purple | Starts with a DC team, in singular form | CAPITALIZE |
Today’s answers
The yellow group is straightforward if the sports gear stands out first: HELMET, PUCK, SKATES and STICK all fit together as hockey equipment. That category is the easiest place to start on a board that quickly shifts from equipment to players and leagues.
The green group connects NBA guards, with BALL, GARLAND, HARDEN and MAXEY filling out the set. Those names give the board a more current basketball feel, even as the puzzle keeps the wording simple.
The blue group moves to European soccer leagues, where BUNDESLIGA, EREDIVISIE, PREMIER LEAGUE and SERIE A belong together. This is the cleanest geography-based category on the board, and it rewards players who track major league names across Europe.
The purple group is the one most likely to trip players up, since it relies on words that begin with a DC team in singular form. CAPITALIZE, MYSTICAL, NATIONAL LEAGUE and WIZARD OF OZ are the full set, and the category depends on spotting the hidden openings rather than the obvious sports connection.
How Connections: Sports Edition works
The Athletic’s Connections: Sports Edition is built around grouping 16 words into four sets of four. Each board has exactly one solution, and players can make only four mistakes before the puzzle ends.
Category colors signal the rough difficulty order, from yellow as the most direct to purple as the trickiest. That structure is what makes a board like game No. 650 feel approachable at first, then increasingly deceptive once the obvious answers are gone.
Mark Cooper, who creates Connections: Sports Edition and also works as a managing editor for college sports at The Athletic, says the next puzzle will be available at midnight in each player’s time zone. Until then, today’s board offers a balanced mix of hockey, basketball, soccer and wordplay.