Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Did you spot «fried» and «rice» in today’s Connections: Sports Edition and look for a food category? Ha ha ha … me too, but it would never be that easy. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Send it my way!

Green group hint: Hope you win your league.

Blue group hint: Bronx Bombers.

Purple group hint: Signal-callers.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Pass.

Green group: Descriptors for fantasy leagues.

Blue group: New York Yankees.

Purple group: First names of NFL starting QBs.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pass. The four answers are assist, dish, distribute and give.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is descriptors for fantasy leagues. The four answers are dynasty, keeper, redraft and rotisserie.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is New York Yankees. The four answers are Fried, Gil, Judge and Rice.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is first names of NFL starting QBs. The four answers are Baker, Drake, Jordan and Lamar.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun and easy one if you love college basketball, and a certain big event that’s about to begin. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: The Big Dance.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Tourney time

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• MARK, BRACK, RACK, RACKS, CADS, CRAM, MOVE, MUTE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• CHALK, BUBBLE, CINDERELLA, OVERTIME, BRACKET

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is MARCHMADNESS. To find it, start with the M that’s four letters down on the far-left vertical row, and wind across.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle isn’t easy, but I got a kick out of the wordplay in the purple group. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Critters in a crowd.

Green group hint: Not fast.

Blue group hint: Silent letter.

Purple group hint: States, but shorter.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Animal group names.

Green group: Things associated with being slow.

Blue group: Silent «w.»

Purple group: Words that sound like state abbreviations.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is animal group names. The four answers are gaggle, pack, pod and pride.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is things associated with being slow. The four answers are glacier, molasses, sloth and traffic.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is silent «w.» The four answers are Cartwright, two, wrath and wrestle.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is words that sound like state abbreviations. The four answers are any (NE), Emmy (ME), envy (NV) and okay (OK).