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NYT Connections Sports Edition · #711

NYT Connections Sports Edition Hints & Answers (#711) — September 4, 2026

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Earlier Sep 3 This puzzle Sep 4 Later Sep 5

“Start with the names — if you know competitive swimming, one group should lock in fast and anchor the rest of the grid.DRILL has appeared twice in recent puzzles — in Connections #708 (Sep 1, 2026) as a coaching term, and in Connections #700 (Aug 24, 2026) as a way to make a shot. Today it plays a third role entirely.”

NYT Sports Connections hints for September 4, 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 900Just a number on the surface — it names a 900-degree aerial spin, famously landed by Tony Hawk in 1999.
2 BEANSpecifically hitting a batter in the head; the origin of the term 'beanball'.
3 CLASSDRAFT CLASS — all the players eligible to be selected in a given year.
4 DRESSELCaeleb Dressel — American sprint specialist who won five gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
5 DRILLSounds like a practice exercise, but here it means a pitch that finds the batter instead of the catcher.
6 HEELFLIPA trick where the board flips using the heel edge of the foot — the mirror image of a kickflip.
7 HITThe most generic of the four — 'hit by pitch' is the official scoring abbreviation HBP.
8 LEDECKYKatie Ledecky — dominant in distance freestyle events and one of the most decorated female swimmers ever.
9 LOTTERYDRAFT LOTTERY — the process that determines which team picks first among the worst records.
10 MANUALReads like an instruction booklet; it's actually a skateboarding balance move on two wheels, similar to a bicycle wheelie.
11 MCTWISTA 540-degree inverted aerial named after skater Mike McGill.
12 ORDERDRAFT ORDER — the sequence in which teams make their selections.
13 PHELPSMichael Phelps — the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals.
14 PICKSFeels like a complete term on its own, but the puzzle wants DRAFT PICKS — the selections a team holds.
15 PLUNKThe most casual-sounding of the four — a soft word for a painful outcome.
16 THOMPSONJenny Thompson — American freestyle and relay specialist who accumulated 12 Olympic medals across four Games from 1992 to 2004.
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 The pitcher's aim was not the strike zone.
See Group NAIL A BATTER WITH A PITCH
See WordPLUNK
See WordBEAN
See WordDRILL
See WordHIT
See Hint You need a board under your feet to attempt any of these.
See Group SKATEBOARDING TRICKS
See WordHEELFLIP
See WordMANUAL
See WordMCTWIST
See Word900
See Hint These four have stood on more Olympic podiums than almost anyone in the pool.
See Group SWIMMERS WITH 10+ OLYMPIC MEDALS
See WordPHELPS
See WordDRESSEL
See WordLEDECKY
See WordTHOMPSON
See Hint Every team's front office obsesses over these four things every spring.
See Group DRAFT _____
See WordLOTTERY
See WordCLASS
See WordORDER
See WordPICKS
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 DRILL Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably picturing a practice exercise or a power tool — but here it's baseball slang for throwing a pitch directly at a batter.
2 MANUAL Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably reading it as an instruction booklet or an adjective meaning done by hand — but the puzzle is using it as a skateboarding move, not anything written or mechanical.
3 900 Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably staring at it as a plain number — but it names a specific aerial trick measured in degrees of rotation, not a quantity of anything.
4 PICKS Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably treating this as a complete, standalone sports term — but the puzzle is using it in a compound sense tied to a specific part of the sports calendar.

NYT Sports Connections answers for September 4, 2026

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

Y NAIL A BATTER WITH A PITCH · Yellow · easiest
  • PLUNK
  • BEAN
  • DRILL
  • HIT

PLUNK, BEAN, DRILL and HIT are all baseball slang for hitting a batter with a pitched ball. BEAN is the most specific — it traditionally refers to hitting the batter in the head, which is why a pitched ball is sometimes called a beanball.

G SKATEBOARDING TRICKS · Green · easy
  • HEELFLIP
  • MANUAL
  • MCTWIST
  • 900

HEELFLIP, MANUAL, MCTWIST and 900 are all skateboarding tricks. The 900 is the most famous — Tony Hawk became the first person to land it in competition at the 1999 X Games, spinning two and a half full rotations in the air.

B SWIMMERS WITH 10+ OLYMPIC MEDALS · Blue · medium
  • PHELPS
  • DRESSEL
  • LEDECKY
  • THOMPSON

PHELPS, DRESSEL, LEDECKY and THOMPSON are all swimmers who have won 10 or more Olympic medals. Michael Phelps leads all of them — and all athletes in history — with 28 Olympic medals total.

P DRAFT _____ · Purple · hardest
  • LOTTERY
  • CLASS
  • ORDER
  • PICKS

LOTTERY, CLASS, ORDER and PICKS all follow the word DRAFT — giving you DRAFT LOTTERY, DRAFT CLASS, DRAFT ORDER and DRAFT PICKS. PICKS is the sneakiest because it already sounds complete as a standalone sports term, making it easy to overlook the hidden connection.

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