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NYT Connections Sports Edition · #726

NYT Connections Sports Edition Hints & Answers (#726) — September 19, 2026

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Earlier Sep 18 This puzzle Sep 19 Later Sep 20

“Before you lock in any group, test whether a word could be the front half of something longer — at least four words here are hiding a bigger identity inside them.Today's puzzle has SCORE and STEEL, both carrying history. SCORE appeared in Connections #668 (Jul 23, 2026) as part of "BOX ___" compound words. STEEL appeared in Connections #682 (Aug 6, 2026) among truncated team names — a similar trick to what today's puzzle is pulling with several words.”

NYT Sports Connections hints for September 19, 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 →

1

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 BOUCHERBobby Boucher — Sandler's water-boy-turned-linebacker in The Waterboy (1998).
2 BUSThe ground transport between airport, hotel and arena on a road trip.
3 CLOCKThe countdown timer ticking down each period — standard on any hockey display.
4 COMMALooks like a punctuation mark; it's actually the start of Commanders — the Washington NFL franchise.
5 CREWEPaul Crewe — Sandler's disgraced quarterback in the prison football remake The Longest Yard (2005).
6 DOLPHEvokes Dolph Lundgren, but here it's the front of Dolphins — Miami's NFL team.
7 FALCOThe Austrian pop singer is the bait; this is the start of Falcons — Atlanta's NFL team.
8 FLIGHTHow most professional teams get to distant road games.
9 GILMOREHappy Gilmore — Sandler's hockey-slap-shot golfer in the 1996 comedy of the same name.
10 HOTELWhere the team sleeps the night before an away game.
11 PERIODFamiliar as a punctuation mark or a vague stretch of time; here it's one of hockey's three playing segments.
12 SCOREThe most basic scoreboard number — how many goals each team has.
13 SHOTS ON GOALA live running tally unique to hockey scoreboards, tracking how hard each team is pressing.
14 STEELReads as a metal; it's the opening of Steelers, Pittsburgh's NFL franchise.
15 SUGERMANStanley Sugerman — Sandler's down-on-his-luck basketball scout in the NBA drama Hustle (2022).
16 VISITORS' LOCKER ROOMThe smaller, less comfortable room reserved for the team that traveled in — proof you're not at home.
2

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 Glance up at the arena display between whistles.
See Group INFO ON A HOCKEY SCOREBOARD
See WordSCORE
See WordPERIOD
See WordCLOCK
See WordSHOTS ON GOAL
See Hint Pack a bag — you're not playing at home tonight.
See Group ASSOCIATED WITH A TEAM ROAD TRIP
See WordHOTEL
See WordFLIGHT
See WordBUS
See WordVISITORS' LOCKER ROOM
See Hint Each one is missing the back half of its jersey.
See Group STARTS OF NFL TEAM NAMES
See WordCOMMA
See WordDOLPH
See WordSTEEL
See WordFALCO
See Hint One actor, four jerseys, four very different sports films.
See Group ADAM SANDLER CHARACTERS IN SPORTS FILMS
See WordBOUCHER
See WordCREWE
See WordGILMORE
See WordSUGERMAN
3

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 FALCO Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably thinking of the Austrian pop singer behind 'Rock Me Amadeus' — but the puzzle is using this as a fragment of something, not a standalone name.
2 DOLPH Tap to see why this word traps.
Your brain goes straight to Dolph Lundgren — but the puzzle isn't interested in action movies; it's treating this as the front end of a longer word.
3 COMMA Tap to see why this word traps.
You're reading it as a punctuation mark, which is the bait — here it's the opening syllables of a proper noun, not a grammar term.
4 CREWE Tap to see why this word traps.
You're likely picturing the English town — but here it's a character's surname from a specific sports film, nothing geographic.

NYT Sports Connections answers for September 19, 2026

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

Y INFO ON A HOCKEY SCOREBOARD · Yellow · easiest
  • SCORE
  • PERIOD
  • CLOCK
  • SHOTS ON GOAL

SCORE, PERIOD, CLOCK and SHOTS ON GOAL are all pieces of information shown on a hockey scoreboard. Hockey is the one major team sport that tracks shots on goal as a live scoreboard stat, which makes this group more specific than it first appears.

G ASSOCIATED WITH A TEAM ROAD TRIP · Green · easy
  • HOTEL
  • FLIGHT
  • BUS
  • VISITORS' LOCKER ROOM

HOTEL, FLIGHT, BUS and VISITORS' LOCKER ROOM are all things a sports team encounters on a road trip. VISITORS' LOCKER ROOM is the anchor — it's the only one that exists only because the team is away, not just because they're traveling.

B STARTS OF NFL TEAM NAMES · Blue · medium
  • COMMA
  • DOLPH
  • STEEL
  • FALCO

COMMA, DOLPH, STEEL and FALCO are the opening letters of four NFL team names: Commanders, Dolphins, Steelers and Falcons. The trick is that none of these fragments look like football — COMMA reads as punctuation, DOLPH as a celebrity, FALCO as a pop star, and STEEL as a material.

P ADAM SANDLER CHARACTERS IN SPORTS FILMS · Purple · hardest
  • BOUCHER
  • CREWE
  • GILMORE
  • SUGERMAN

BOUCHER, CREWE, GILMORE and SUGERMAN are all characters played by Adam Sandler in sports movies: Bobby Boucher in The Waterboy, Paul Crewe in The Longest Yard, Happy Gilmore in Happy Gilmore, and Stanley Sugerman in Hustle. CREWE is the sneakiest — the English town spelling pulls solvers far from any sports-film connection.

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