Today’s Sports Connections hints & answers

Use this page when you're stuck on today's NYT Sports Connections puzzle and want structured hints instead of the full spoiler. We reveal themes, group titles, and tiles step by step, then show the full board only when you explicitly ask for it.

Puzzle #973 · 2026-07-28 · sports

Step through today’s Connections hints

Start with broad themes, then reveal more detail about the groups and tiles only when you need it. The final button shows today's full group breakdown.

Puzzle reference: Connections #973 for 2026-07-28, edition sports, with a standard four-group board. Spoiler categories and tiles stay collapsed until you open the hint layers below.

Hint 1 – overall theme

There are 4 groups in today’s puzzle.

Themes include: FOOTBALL POSITIONS, TENNIS SHOT DESCRIPTORS, WORTH TWO POINTS/RUNS and 1 more.

Hint 2 – group titles

Here are the category names for each group. Try matching the tiles in the official game to these themes before you reveal any tiles.

FOOTBALL POSITIONS
TENNIS SHOT DESCRIPTORS
WORTH TWO POINTS/RUNS
ENDS IN A NUMBER

Hint 3 – group tiles

Reveal the tiles for each group. If you only want a partial nudge, stop after reading one or two groups and go back to the official puzzle.

FOOTBALL POSITIONS

TIGHT END

GUARD

LINEBACKER

RUNNING BACK

TENNIS SHOT DESCRIPTORS

SMASH

BACKHAND

SLICE

DROP

WORTH TWO POINTS/RUNS

SAFETY

LAYUP

WRESTLING REVERSAL

2-RUN HR

ENDS IN A NUMBER

WITTEN

HEAVYWEIGHT

END ZONE

CONINE

Reveal full answer

This is the full breakdown of today's Connections puzzle: group titles and all tiles, grouped together.