NYT Connections Sports Edition · #682

NYT Connections Sports Edition Hints & Answers (#682) — August 6, 2026

By Sneha Rajput·August 6, 2026

“Start with the group where every word is clearly one thing and nothing else — then use what you have left to untangle the words that could fit two or three different categories.”

NYT Sports Connections hints for August 6, 2026

Three levels of help — a definition for every word, colour-coded group nudges, and a heads-up on the traps. Skip to all answers →

Word clues

A spoiler-free definition for every word in the grid. Tap the eye on any card to reveal which colour-group it belongs to.

1 BANNERA longer, often hanging display — think championship banners in arena rafters, or fan-made versions in the stands.

2 BRACKETBRACKET POOL — a prediction contest where participants fill out a bracket and compete for a shared pot; the standalone tournament-bracket reading is the bait.

3 COMMANDAdd ERS and you have the Washington Commanders — the NFC East franchise formerly known as the Redskins.

4 EREarned Runs — the count of runs a pitcher is personally responsible for, excluding errors.

5 ERAEarned Run Average — the classic measure of how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per nine innings.

6 FLAGLooks like a penalty flag on the field, but here it's what a fan waves in the crowd to show their team colours.

7 LAPLAP POOL — a long, narrow pool designed specifically for swimming laps rather than recreation.

8 PACKAdd ERS and you have the Green Bay Packers — reads like a generic sports term, which is exactly why it's the trickiest word to place in this group.

9 PRIZEPRIZE POOL — the total money available to winners in a competition, common in esports and poker tournaments.

10 RAIDAdd ERS and you have the Las Vegas Raiders — a franchise that moved from Oakland to the Nevada desert in 2020.

11 SIGNThe simplest fan display — a piece of cardboard with a message, held up for the camera.

12 STEELAdd ERS and you have the Pittsburgh Steelers — a name that nods directly to the city's steel industry heritage.

13 SWIMMINGSWIMMING POOL — the most literal entry in the group; the word pool in its most familiar physical sense.

14 TIFOA large coordinated visual display — giant painted sheets or card stunts — most common in soccer supporter sections.

15 WWin — the simplest column in a pitcher's stat line, though modern analysts argue it tells you the least.

16 WHIPWalks plus Hits per Inning Pitched — a single number that captures how many baserunners a pitcher allows per inning.

Group hints

Four colour-coded groups, easiest → hardest. Every button reveals the hint, the category name, or a single word — tap only what you need.

See Hint

A baseball scorecard has a dedicated column for each of these.

See Group

STATS FOR A PITCHER, ABBREVIATED

See Word

WHIP

See Word

ERA

See Word

See Hint

What the loudest section of the stadium waves, holds, or unfurls.

See Group

SHOW OF SUPPORT IN THE CROWD

See Word

SIGN

See Word

BANNER

See Word

TIFO

See Word

FLAG

See Hint

Four franchises, each with the same two letters quietly trimmed from the end.

See Group

NFL TEAMS, MINUS THE "ERS"

See Word

COMMAND

See Word

STEEL

See Word

RAID

See Word

PACK

See Hint

Two words here describe actual bodies of water — the other two describe money or competition formats.

See Group

_____ POOL

See Word

LAP

See Word

SWIMMING

See Word

BRACKET

See Word

PRIZE

Words the puzzle wants you to mis-group

Read these before you guess — they're the words most likely to break a streak. Tap for the trap.

1 BRACKET Tap to see why this word traps.

You're almost certainly picturing a March Madness tournament bracket — but the puzzle is using it as a compound word, not a competition format.

2 FLAG Tap to see why this word traps.

You're probably thinking of a penalty flag thrown on the field, but here it's something a fan holds in the stands, not an official's call.

3 PACK Tap to see why this word traps.

You might read this as a bunch of runners bunched together mid-race — a common sports image — but the puzzle is using it as a truncated team name with two letters quietly removed from the end.

4 W Tap to see why this word traps.

Looks like a team abbreviation — Washington uses W as shorthand — but here it's a pitching column in a box score, not a franchise initial.

NYT Sports Connections answers for August 6, 2026

All four groups revealed, easiest first. Each card holds the theme, the four words, and why the group works.

Y STATS FOR A PITCHER, ABBREVIATED · Yellow · easiest

ER
WHIP
ERA
W

ER, WHIP, ERA and W are all standard abbreviations found in a pitcher's stat line. WHIP is the least familiar to casual fans — it stands for Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched, a modern efficiency measure.

G SHOW OF SUPPORT IN THE CROWD · Green · easy

SIGN
BANNER
TIFO
FLAG

SIGN, BANNER, TIFO and FLAG are all physical displays that fans bring into a stadium to show support. TIFO is the trickiest — it's a large coordinated visual display, often a massive painted sheet, associated with soccer supporter culture.

B NFL TEAMS, MINUS THE "ERS" · Blue · medium

COMMAND
STEEL
RAID
PACK

COMMAND, STEEL, RAID and PACK become COMMANDERS, STEELERS, RAIDERS and PACKERS once you add 'ERS' back. PACK is the sneakiest — without the team name context, it reads as a completely ordinary sports word, which makes it the one most likely to end up in the wrong group.

P _____ POOL · Purple · hardest

LAP
SWIMMING
BRACKET
PRIZE

LAP, SWIMMING, BRACKET and PRIZE all precede POOL to form compound phrases: lap pool, swimming pool, bracket pool and prize pool. BRACKET is the hardest — bracket pool is a real term for a group prediction contest, but most solvers lock onto tournament bracket long before they hear the POOL connection.

Try another puzzle

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