Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for July 25 #305
Today's Connections: Sports Edition tested my breadth of sports knowledge. The blue category pays tribute to one of the greatest players of all time. See if you can figure it out. We've got hints and the answers in case you get stuck.
Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That's a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn't show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic's own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Rink-related.
Green group hint: The lower end of the Golden State.
Blue group hint: NFL G.O.A.T.
Purple group hint: You can also do this to your hair.
Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Hockey statistics.
Green group: Southern California teams.
Blue group: Teams Jerry Rice played for.
Purple group: What "cut" could mean.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today's Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 25, 2025.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today's Connections
The theme is hockey statistics. The four answers are goals, penalty minutes, plus/minus and shots.
The green words in today's Connections
The theme is Southern California teams. The four answers are Angels, Clippers, Ducks and Sparks.
The blue words in today's Connections
The theme is teams Jerry Rice played for. The four answers are 49ers, Mississippi Valley State, Raiders and Seahawks.
The purple words in today's Connections
The theme is what "cut" could mean. The four answers are change direction, gash, release and swing.
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New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Little and large batting combinations can be devastating in cricket – here's why
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett are a sporting odd couple. They may open the batting together for England but that is where the similarities end. One is big, one small. One is right-handed, one left. Even in style, they are a contrast, with Crawley preferring big drives down the ground, while Duckett sweeps and cuts on either side of the wicket. Advertisement But from England's perspective, their marriage of convenience is working as they become one of the best opening partnerships in the country's Test history. Crawley (the 'large' in this little and large pairing) may have his doubters, but it is the package he forms with Duckett that has helped encourage England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum to put so much faith in him. Their stand of 166 for the first wicket in the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford last week was their fifth of more than a hundred runs, and took them into the top 15 of Test cricket's most prolific partnerships. They also probably offer the format's biggest extremes in terms of appearance and approach. Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss remain England's greatest opening pair with 12 century partnerships and 4,711 runs but Crawley and Duckett — also good friends off the field — already have a better average: 45.55 for their 2,369 runs together compared to 40.96 for Cook and Strauss. It is that contrast between them which both sets them apart as players and is a significant factor in their success. Crawley stands at 6ft 5in (196cm), towering above the 5ft 7in (170cm) Duckett, making them a unique challenge for opposing bowlers, who have a very different batter to contend with whenever they rotate the strike. James Taylor and Will Jefferson know all about that. They formed perhaps the only batting partnership in English cricket history of greater extremes in stature than Crawley and Duckett when they played for Leicestershire between 2010 and 2012. Jefferson, at 6ft 10in, is one of the tallest batters to have played professional cricket while Taylor, who made seven Test appearances for England, was one of the shortest at 5ft 4in. They were cricket's ultimate little and large. 'I really enjoyed batting with James,' Jefferson tells The Athletic. 'I was an opener and whenever he walked out to join me, even if there wasn't that big a crowd at a county game, there were these oohs and aahs over what's this going to look like. There are a couple of great pictures of us standing together in the middle. Advertisement 'In terms of my height, I wanted to get on the front foot and wanted to drive back down the ground, while James was a very punchy player with cuts and pulls and sweeps, because of his stature. It is harder to contain players of those two extremes at the same time. It works even better when you've got a left-hand and right-hand combination, like England.' Taylor, now a coach at Leicestershire having previously been an England selector, relished those difficulties presented to bowlers whenever he joined Jefferson in the middle. And he can see the benefits of England sticking with Duckett and Crawley as their openers. 'Naturally, bowlers have to adjust their lengths because of the height difference, but you've also got two massively contrasting styles with both Duckett and Crawley, as it was with me and Jefferson,' Taylor tells The Athletic. 'Zak plays very much with a straight bat and Ducky is cross-bat, so there's not only a huge adjustment in length but bowlers have to adjust again with their lines. You have to bowl incredibly tight to Ducky, and you haven't got much margin for error because you've got a guy who doesn't leave the ball and plays a lot of cross-bat, even when he's driving. 'Then Crawley stands on top of the ball and hits your best ball, your best length, for four. It was the same with me and Jefferson. It's a reset of the field, it's a reset in lengths and mindset. The other thing is it's a left-hand/right-hand partnership too, which can be extremely frustrating for the bowlers because they have to change everything. 'It makes sense, because the balls that are full can be a little bit shorter to us and smaller players like me have grown up playing more cross-bat shots than the taller guys. We have grown up not getting so many short balls, so we might be better at certain shots.' Jefferson, who now runs a leadership and management training company, may not have made it any higher than representing England A — the second team — during a county career that also included spells at Essex and Nottinghamshire, but his height was so unusual in the game that it could be disconcerting even for international-level bowlers. Advertisement 'I once faced Stuart MacGill, the Australian leg-spinner (who took over 200 Test wickets in his career), and he just could not find his lengths to me,' says Jefferson. 'He bowled me a very high number of bad balls to hit. They were either far too short or far too full, and that was a clear indicator of the problem he faced. When (Essex team-mate) Aftab Habib came out to bat with me, he would have a big smile on his face. He knew he would get more balls to score off because I was at the other end. 'One memory I have is batting with (former Zimbabwe international) Andy Flower at Essex. He wasn't tall, and he was also left-handed, and his game was so different to mine in terms of the amount of reverse sweeps he played. 'It was incredibly off-putting for a spin bowler, and in that case you had short and tall and left and right, just like with Duckett and Crawley now. We had some great partnerships together, and it is that diversity that creates the difficulty in allowing a bowler to settle into a rhythm. 'Duckett and Crawley often score at more than five an over and are also averaging 45 as a pair. They're rattling along and it helps that there's that point of difference in terms of their shapes and sizes.' Taylor was involved in another partnership of extremes on his Test debut, when he joined the 6ft 4in Kevin Pietersen at the crease against South Africa at Headingley in 2012. It was a match that later became infamous because of the emergence of texts Pietersen sent to South African players advising them on how to bowl at England captain Strauss, but it was also one where he put on 147 first-innings runs with England's diminutive debutant. Pietersen was clearly not that impressed with his new colleague, as he was later to write in his autobiography that Taylor should have been a jockey rather than a cricketer. But it was a stand that was crucial in England drawing that Test, and one that Taylor relished. 'There's no question the two very different styles of batting, because of our height differences and styles, helped us that day,' says the 35-year-old Taylor, who was forced to retire in 2016 after being diagnosed with a serious heart condition. 'KP (Pietersen) did the bulk of the scoring while I settled in and played the situation and tried to get him on strike so he could attack them. He had such a wide array of shots, he could dominate them (the South Africa bowlers) while I sat in and played for him. Advertisement 'KP could be unorthodox in his shot selection, but Zak hits the ball incredibly hard for an orthodox batsman who's really tall. He hits the best balls for four at the top of the bounce — that's probably his USP — and that's something Will also did very well. Of all the players I played with, Jefferson probably hit the ball hardest from orthodox shots, and that's a bit like Zak — tall batsmen who hit the best balls for four.' Crawley may still only be averaging 31.40 individually from his 58 Tests, far too low for an established opening batter, but he made 84 in that stand at Old Trafford, along with 65 in a second-innings opening partnership of 188 with Duckett that went a long way towards England successfully chasing 371 to win the first Test of this series against India last month. So there is no question England will still keep faith with him for their Ashes tour this winter, where they believe the extra pace and bounce in the Australian pitches will suit those drives on the bounce Taylor talks about. Along with a partner in Duckett who averages 42.69 from his 37 games and, as he showed with 94 at Old Trafford, is in the form of his life. 'Nobody wants to bowl at them,' says Taylor. 'Zak can hit your best ball for four, and then you have Ducky leaving just two per cent of his deliveries, which is about six per cent less than anyone else. It becomes so hard to contain. 'Ducky is probably the best multi-format player in the world right now, and he's great fun to watch. He's different and slightly unorthodox but he knows his game incredibly well, and that complements a pretty orthodox batsman at the other end in Zak. I love watching both of them, and I hope they continue together for a long time yet.' Click here to read more cricket stories on The Athletic, and follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab.
New York Times
5 hours ago
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Brighton's Jack Hinshelwood ‘happy to play anywhere, I just really want to be out on the pitch'
'Definitely,' says Jack Hinshelwood, when asked whether he felt any trepidation after Fabian Hurzeler replaced Roberto De Zerbi as Brighton & Hove Albion's head coach last summer. 'When you break through under one manager and then he leaves, there is a bit of doubt in your mind, but I just had to try to turn that into motivation, really go and prove to the manager my worth to the team. Advertisement 'I worked really hard, coming back from an injury (a stress fracture of the foot), to have a good pre-season, to gain my place in the team, and the manager has been great. He has a great personal relationship with everyone. It makes us want to give that extra 10 per cent on the pitch.' Reflecting on that summer of big change for his boyhood club reveals a rare flicker of vulnerability in Hinshelwood. Not much has fazed the versatile 20-year-old on his pathway to success for club and country. Since September 2023, when he made his full debut in the Premier League under De Zerbi, Hinshelwood has established himself as a first-team regular in a variety of positions — his next official appearance will be his 50th across all competitions, with a healthy eight goals and three assists in the 49 he's made so far. He approaches 2025-26 as a member of the England squad that won the European Under-21 Championship in June. Hinshelwood has taken the rapid rise in his stride, including the exit of De Zerbi prompted by irreconcilable differences over transfer policy and the appointment of American-born German Hurzeler as the Italian's successor. 'I've loved playing for both managers,' Hinshelwood tells The Athletic. 'I can't thank Roberto enough for giving me the introduction. They are both very passionate and very emotional. They give you the feeling as players that you want to go out there and run through brick walls for them. 'Roberto's style on the ball was very sort of strict. 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That is why I love playing in midfield so much. It gives me the license to really get forward but also at the same time be busy defending. Full-back, midfield, they are different challenges. I love them both.' That adaptability was replicated with England juniors at those Euros in Slovakia, a tournament made even more memorable as it was preceded by Hinshelwood becoming a father for the first time. Head coach Lee Carsley used him in midfield and at right-back but mainly at left-back over the course of five appearances. Hinshelwood was in the starting line-up for a 2-1 defeat by Germany in the group stage finale, and played every minute from then on through to the avenging victory against the same opponents, 3-2 after extra time, in the final. 'Our daughter was born on June 9, and then I was on the bench on the 12th (an unused sub in the first group match, a 3-1 defeat of the Czech Republic), so that was a crazy three days, and then it turned out to be an amazing month,' says Hinshelwood. 'In the first game (against Germany) I was centre-mid, unlucky not to score with a header, and then right-back and left-back for the rest of the games; so a few positions, which is always nice. 'I don't mind it. I think the more positions you can play, the more chance you've got of getting into the starting 11, so I can show my versatility. I can show I can do a job in a few positions, so it helps my selection for the team. I am happy to play anywhere — I just really want to be out on the pitch.' Hinshelwood's 26 appearances in the Premier League last season — 22 of them starts — included a goal off the bench at home to Liverpool (beating the newly crowned champions 3-2) and two more playing as a false nine at Tottenham Hotspur (a 4-1 victory over a side who'd won the Europa League final four days earlier) in the closing two games as Hurzeler's side finished eighth, narrowly missing out on European qualification. Advertisement 'I think overall, when we look back, it was a really good season,' Hinshelwood says. 'We had some really good periods and some tough periods, which is only natural with the amount of new players, new management, a new style and learning to play together. We finished the season really well, gave ourselves a chance at Europe and just missed out. 'We can use that energy now to spur us on and hopefully have another go this season. The bar has definitely been raised over the last few seasons and this club is growing so quickly — it is a privilege to be at the club. I have been here for a while, can see the growth of the club, and the club's growth has also helped me to grow. Coming off the back of an eighth-placed finish, we can really be excited to do even better than that this season.' Hinshelwood was described as a 'role model' by Brighton's technical director David Weir when he was awarded a new contract in April last year, which runs until the end of the 2027-28 season. He is the first academy product to make it all the way through to the first team since Brighton opened their new training centre at Lancing, west of the south-coast city, in 2014. 'I am really proud of this,' Hinshelwood says. 'Lots of other players have come through and are now playing professional football elsewhere. It has been an amazing journey at this club, joining at eight, training at Worthing Leisure Centre and the university (of Sussex) at Falmer. The club has come so far to have the training ground, the (Amex) stadium, and to have been a top-10 club for the last four years. 'I love every minute of it. I just want to repay on the pitch the faith that people have shown in me.' Brighton's captain Lewis Dunk, 33, and 31-year-old fellow multi-tasker Solly March have been figureheads for Hinshelwood as older graduates of the club's academy system. Defender Dunk has six England caps, and was an unused member of the squad that finished runners-up to Spain in the 2024 European Championship. 'It's probably not the answer you want to hear, but I don't really look too far ahead,' Hinshelwood says of his own ambitions. 'I already owe so much to the club. I want to really kick on this season, become a regular. Advertisement 'Lewis Dunk's journey has been an inspiring one for me. He is someone I have always looked to growing up. Solly as well, both local lads who have gone on to be heroes at the club. I want to have a similar journey to Dunky. He has been to a major competition with England's first team. That would also be a dream of mine.' The way his career is progressing suggests it is a dream Hinshelwood has a realistic chance of making into reality.
New York Times
6 hours ago
- New York Times
Connections: Sports Edition hints for July 30, 2025, puzzle No. 310
Need help with today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You've come to the right place. Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores. A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes one answer in each of the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing. Advertisement You can access Wednesday's game here. Game No. 310's difficulty: 2.5 out of 5 Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yellow: FLY Green: LIV Blue: RHYNE Purple: TIM The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments! (Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic)
