Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for June 28 #643

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The World Cup is swinging into the knockout round, and today’s Connections: Sports Edition includes a World Cup category. 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: Very cool!

Green group hint: Hoops data.

Blue group hint: Allez les Bleus!

Purple group hint: Where the dunking happens.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Style.

Green group: Basketball stats, abbreviated.

Blue group: Members of France’s World Cup squad.

Purple group: NBA arenas.

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 style. The four answers are flair, panache, pizzazz and swagger.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball stats, abbreviated. The four answers are FG, FT, PF and TO.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is members of France’s World Cup squad. The four answers are Barcola, Gusto, Mbappé and Olise.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is  NBA arenas. The four answers are Barclays, Kia, Moda and TD.