Sports Connections Hints: Jan 9, 2025

This page shows spoiler‑layered hints for the NYT Sports Connections puzzle published on Jan 9, 2025 (2025-01-09). Step through the hints in order and only reveal the full board when you're ready.

Meta: Sports puzzle #289

Puzzle #289 · 2025-01-09 · 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 #289 for 2025-01-09, 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: TEAM, ORIGINAL SIX NHL TEAMS, PANTHERS 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.

TEAM
ORIGINAL SIX NHL TEAMS
PANTHERS
GOLF _____

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.

TEAM

CREW

GROUP

SIDE

SQUAD

ORIGINAL SIX NHL TEAMS

BOSTON

MONTREAL

NEW YORK

TORONTO

PANTHERS

CAROLINA

FLORIDA

NORTHERN IOWA

PITTSBURGH

GOLF _____

CART

CLAP

CLUB

COURSE

Reveal full answer

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