Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for July 1 #646

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.

There’s another World Cup category in today’s Connections: Sports Edition, and some of the other clues are World Cup-related, too. If you’re struggling with the 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: Where are you sitting?

Green group hint: Soccer (OK, football) group

Blue group hint: Roar!

Purple group hint: Gosling or Reynolds.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Stadium seating sections.

Green group: CONCACAF teams in World Cup.

Blue group: Teams with Lion nicknames.

Purple group: Ryans.

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 stadium seating sections. The four answers are bleachers, mezzanine, suite and upper deck.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is CONCACAF teams in World Cup. The four answers are Canada, Curaçao, Mexico and United States.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams with Lion nicknames. The four answers are Columbia, Detroit, England and Penn State.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Ryans. The four answers are Crouser, Day, Fitzpatrick and Poles.

Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories

The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.

That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing.

#1: Serie A Clubs. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.

#2: WNBA MVPs. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.

#3: Premier League team nicknames. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.

#4: Homophones of NBA player names. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.