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.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition raised my confidence with a very easy yellow category. Then my guesses kind of fell apart. Need some help? Read on for hints and the answers.

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: First question?

Green group hint: You win it.

Blue group hint: They call it football.

Purple group hint: Baseball accessories.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Setting for a news conference.

Green group: Starts of trophy names.

Blue group: England women’s soccer players.

Purple group: ____ base.

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 setting for a news conference. The four answers are dais, lectern, podium and stage.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is starts of trophy names. The four answers are Ballon, Cy, Heisman and Stanley.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is England women’s soccer players. The four answers are Bronze, Mead, Stanway and Williamson.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ base. The four answers are fan, first, stolen and third.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a pretty tough one. I grew up on a farm, so I know the word, but I didn’t put it together right away, even though the letters are common ones. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There is are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter B.

Wordle hint No. 4: Down on the farm

Today’s Wordle answer describes a piece of farm equipment.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer refers to a machine for making paper, hay, or cotton into bales.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is BALER.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, July 4,  No. 1476 was CURVE.

Recent Wordle answers

June 30, No. 1472: BLINK

July 1, No. 1473: MOLDY

July 2, No. 1474: INCUR

July 3, No. 1475: POPPY

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.

The theme of today’s NYT Strands puzzle isn’t terribly tough, but at least one of the words is unusual and really, really long to unscramble. 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: Every second counts.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Does anybody really know what time it is?

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:

• DIAL, SOLE, MOLE, MOLES, SHAKE, CHEEP, ROLE, HOME, LOCK, MEAT, TAME, TAMES, ROLES, ROON, TRON

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:

• CLOCK, WATCH, SUNDIAL, HOURGLASS, CHRONOMETER

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is TIMEKEEPERS. To find it, look for the T that’s four letters down on the far left, and wind across.