The answers to NYT Connections Sports Edition #668 (July 23, 2026) are listed by color group below. Scroll past the hints if you want to jump straight to a specific category.
Hints for Connections Sports Edition #668
- Yellow: Four franchises playing in the same conference of the same league.
- Green: A U.S. state with four professional sports teams, including one that plays on ice and one that is relatively new.
- Blue: Four athletes and media figures who share a first name.
- Purple: Two letters that can precede each of these words to form a compound sports term.
All Four Answers for July 23, 2026
Yellow – Eastern Conference NBA Teams: HAWKS, MAGIC, NETS, PISTONS
Green – Minnesota Teams: FROST, TIMBERWOLVES, TWINS, WILD
Blue – Scotts: MCTOMINAY, NIEDERMAYER, ROLEN, VAN PELT
Purple – BOX ___: AND ONE, JUMP, LACROSSE, SCORE
Difficulty Notes and Notable Traps
The Yellow group is the most accessible starting point. HAWKS (Atlanta), MAGIC (Orlando), NETS (Brooklyn), and PISTONS (Detroit) are all Eastern Conference NBA franchises, though they share no other visible connection, so players without strong NBA geography knowledge may take a few guesses to narrow it down.
The Green group’s trickiest entry is FROST. The Minnesota Frost is the PWHL franchise representing the state, alongside the Timberwolves (NBA), Twins (MLB), and Wild (NHL). The Frost is recent enough to trip up solvers who do not follow women’s hockey, and FROST reads naturally as a surname before it reads as a team name.
The Blue group requires knowing that Scott McTominay (soccer), Scott Niedermayer (ice hockey Hall of Famer), Scott Rolen (baseball Hall of Famer), and Scott Van Pelt (ESPN anchor) all share a first name. Van Pelt is the probable sticking point: he is a broadcaster rather than an athlete, but the category names the first name only, not the role.
The Purple category is the most satisfying to solve once the prefix lands. BOX AND ONE, BOX JUMP, BOX LACROSSE, and BOX SCORE each complete a genuine sports compound. SCORE and LACROSSE tend to surface first; BOX JUMP and BOX AND ONE come later and are what separate players who finish cleanly from those who burn their last guess.
For recent puzzle coverage, see our NYT Connections answers for July 22, 2026 (#1137) and our NYT Connections answers for July 20, 2026 (#1135).
