Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will be easy if you’re a fan of pro racing and tennis.

As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Football Positions, Abbreviated

• Green: Members of the 500-HR Club

• Blue: First Names of QBs to Throw 500 Career TDs

• Purple: ___500

Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #500 is…

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Football Positions, Abbreviated – CB, OT, S, TE

• Members of the 500-HR Club – BANKS, BONDS, FOXX, KILLEBREW

• First Names of QBs to Throw 500 Career TDs – AARON, DREW, PEYTON, TOM

• ___500 – ATP, DAYTONA, INDY, WTA

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 7 seconds ago

After watching 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon critically, and for the first time as an adult, I might have to go out on a limb here and say that Al Pacino is my favorite comedian. I remember passively watching this one on cable when I was a kid, but the minor details were fuzzy, and I was long overdue for a proper rewatch. I could give you the usual spiel about how Dog Day Afternoon is based on a real-life hostage situation orchestrated by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile, but I’ve made my feelings clear about how source material is used countless times, and that applies here as well.

Fully understanding that creative liberties are always taken in this context, I’m simply here to watch a movie for entertainment’s sake, and I’m actually disappointed with myself for not getting to this one sooner. It’s billed as a biographical crime drama for obvious reasons, but it’s funnier than it has any right to be thanks to Al Pacino’s portrayal of a bank robber who is completely out of his depth. If anything, it plays more like a comedy of errors, where each escalation creates even more unintended spectacle.

Failure To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail

Dog Day Afternoon wastes no time getting into its heist, and it deliberately avoids showing any of the planning that took place beforehand. You’ll soon see why, because it’s painfully evident that Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino), Sal Naturile (John Cazale), and Stevie (Gary Springer) are grossly unprepared to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank in every conceivable way. For starters, they clearly didn’t do any kind of loyalty test, because Stevie immediately changes his mind and bolts.

Sonny then struggles to pull his gun out of the flower box he used to smuggle it inside the bank, which does nothing to make him look intimidating. He’s further humbled when he realizes the bank already completed its daily cash pickup, leaving him and Sal with just over a thousand dollars to show for their efforts. Frustrated, Sonny sets fire to the bank’s ledger, which attracts outside attention and quickly results in the police surrounding the building. With no exit strategy, Sonny and Sal are forced to hold everyone hostage while they try to figure out what to do next.

As the hours tick by, the press becomes an increasingly dominant presence outside, and Detective Sergeant Eugene Moretti (Charles Durning) urges Sonny to step out for negotiations. Sonny, having no real grasp on bank robbing protocol, insists on running everything by Sal first. Through these conversations, Sonny’s true motive comes into focus. He was trying to raise money for his lover Leon’s (Chris Sarandon) gender reassignment surgery, only to learn that his actions may have made Leon an accessory to the crime.

Pacino’s Comedic Timing Is Next Level

Before Sonny starts making demands for a jet to stage his escape, Dog Day Afternoon truly shines thanks to how Pacino carries himself throughout the ordeal. Sonny is borderline bumbling in his attempts to control the situation, and it’s the small throwaway moments that really sell it. When a hostage asks if they can use the bathroom, Sonny casually asks another teller where the bathroom is. That’s not a question a competent bank robber should ever be asking, because a competent one would have cased the place weeks or months earlier.

Whenever Sonny is presented with a counteroffer to one of his demands, he averts his eyes and mutters that he needs to consult with his partner before locking the bank down again. The earnestness behind Pacino’s portrayal of a man who is wildly unqualified for the situation lands so well because of how seriously he plays it. The humor is further amplified by just how bored the hostages seem to be. They quickly realize they’re not in immediate danger and mostly just wait things out, humoring Sonny as he continues to dig himself deeper.

Holding a near-perfect balance between crime thriller and comedy of errors, Dog Day Afternoon remains such a satisfying watch because of how fully Al Pacino commits to the premise. In Sonny’s mind, this is deadly serious business. For the audience, the comedy comes from watching someone this ill-equipped try to control a situation that keeps slipping further away from him, and it’s still a joy to watch unfold over 50 years later.

Dog Day Afternoon is streaming for free on Tubi as of this writing.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 5 Pips

Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally.

Equal (5): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 5. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally; 5-2, placed vertically; 5-4, placed vertically.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically; 3-0, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 0. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically; 3-0, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 5 Pips

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-5, placed vertically; 2-2, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically.

Equal (2): Everything in this green space must be equal to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically; 3-2, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (1): Everything in this space must be greater than 1. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 5 Pips

Number (5): Everything in this orange space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this dark blue space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally; 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (18): Everything in this space must add up to 18. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically; 6-0, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 6-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this dark blue space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this purple space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally; 4-3, placed vertically; 4-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this green space must be equal to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 3. The answer is 4-3, placed vertically; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-0, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this dark blue space must be equal to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 2-5, placed vertically; 0-5, placed horizontally.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.