The New York Times has partnered with The Athletic to create a sports-focused version of its popular word puzzle game. Players tackle daily challenges that require identifying connections between 16 sports-related words organized into four categories of increasing difficulty, color-coded from yellow to purple.
Today’s puzzle, numbered 690, offers a football-themed challenge for August 14, 2026. The gameplay mechanics mirror the standard Connections experience: participants must group words sharing a common thread, earning points for correct sets while receiving four allowed mistakes before losing. Like its predecessor Wordle, each puzzle refreshes daily with mounting complexity, and successful solvers can share results on social media.
For those seeking assistance, today’s four categories include slang terms for weak opponents, collegiate athletic conferences, references to the number three, and words containing chemical elements from the periodic table. The complete solutions reveal combinations such as “breeze, cupcake, pushover, tomato can” for easy opponents and “9-iron, Adam Silver, Kahleah Copper, Phoenix Mercury” for the periodic table category.
Players can shuffle the board layout to improve their puzzle-solving strategy. A fresh challenge awaits tomorrow, with additional word games available through Mashable’s dedicated gaming platform.
Originally reported by Mashable →
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