NYT Connections Sports Edition answers for May 10, 2026

At a glance:

• The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for May 10, 2026, features four themed groups: baseball stats, fast-moving verbs, Hall of Fame running backs, and NHL teams with their first letter removed.
• The purple group is the trickiest — answers are angers (Rangers), ruins (Bruins), slanders (Islanders) and tars (Stars), requiring solvers to strip the first letter from each NHL team name.
• Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, a subscription sports journalism site owned by The Times, and is playable free online or via The Athletic's app.

Today's Sports Edition groups and answers

The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Saturday, May 10, 2026 — number 594 — is shaping up as one of the tougher entries this month, with the purple category throwing solvers a curveball. The puzzle is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times, and does not appear inside the NYT Games app; it lives in The Athletic's own app or can be played for free online.

Here are the four groups, ranked from easiest to hardest:

• Yellow group: Baseball stats — errors, hits, runs, walks
• Green group: Moves fast — bolts, races, scoots, sprints
• Blue group: Hall of Fame running backs — James, Riggins, Sanders, Sayers
• Purple group: NHL teams, minus the first letter — angers (Rangers), ruins (Bruins), slanders (Islanders), tars (Stars)

The yellow group is the most straightforward: all four words are fundamental baseball statistics that appear on any box score. The green group shifts to a verb-heavy theme around speed, which can overlap with other categories if you are not careful.

Why the purple group is so tricky

The purple category is where most solvers stall. Instead of presenting straightforward NHL team names, the puzzle gives you each team with its first letter removed. You have to work backward: angers becomes Rangers, ruins becomes Bruins, slanders becomes Islanders, and tars becomes Stars. The "twist" referenced in the hint — hockey teams, with a twist — is precisely this letter-stripping mechanic.

This kind of obfuscation is unusual for Connections and pushes the puzzle into trick-tier territory. If you do not immediately clock the pattern, the other three groups can feel ambiguous because several words (bolts, races, sprints) could conceivably belong in a sports context beyond their assigned group.

The blue group's running back trivia

The blue group rewards football fans who know their NFL history. The four answers — James, Riggins, Sanders, Sayers — are all legendary running backs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Earle Campbell ("Campbell") and O.J. Simpson are notable omissions, which keeps the group from being a simple surname list.

This group also illustrates how Connections: Sports Edition leans on niche knowledge. While baseball stats and fast verbs are accessible to casual fans, identifying four Hall of Fame running backs by last name alone requires a deeper sports memory.

How to play Connections: Sports Edition

Connections: Sports Edition is a spin-off of the popular NYT Connections daily puzzle, but with an all-sports theme. The Athletic launched it after the original Connections gained massive popularity, and the Sports Edition has since become a regular fixture for sports-oriented puzzlers. It is published daily, though it runs on a separate cadence from the main NYT Games suite.

The puzzle groups four words into categories; players get up to four mistakes before the game ends. The difficulty ramps from yellow (easiest) through green, blue, and purple (hardest), with later groups often requiring lateral thinking or specialized knowledge.

What to watch next

Connections: Sports Edition puzzle number 594 is now live and answers will be archived alongside previous daily puzzles. The Athletic continues to update the game regularly, and each new edition tends to introduce at least one category that bends the rules — as the NHL-first-letter removal in today's purple group demonstrates. Players who want a preview can check The Athletic's app or the free online version before attempting the daily puzzle.

Tags: nyt connections, sports edition, the athletic, puzzles, may 10 2026

FAQ:

• What are the answers for the purple group in today's Connections Sports Edition? The purple group answers are angers (Rangers), ruins (Bruins), slanders (Islanders) and tars (Stars). Each word is an NHL team name with its first letter removed, making this the hardest category in the May 10, 2026 puzzle.

• Where can I play Connections: Sports Edition? Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic and is available in The Athletic's own app or for free online. It does not appear in the NYT Games app.

• What is the theme of the yellow group in today's puzzle? The yellow group theme is baseball stats, with the four answers being errors, hits, runs and walks — all common box score metrics.

Entities:

• "The Athletic" — Subscription sports journalism site owned by The Times, publisher of Connections: Sports Edition
• "Connections: Sports Edition" — Daily sports-themed puzzle published by The Athletic
• "NYT Games" — The New York Times games platform, separate from The Athletic's puzzle offerings
• "The Times" — Parent company of The Athletic and publisher of the main NYT Games suite
• "Earle Campbell" — Hall of Fame running back referenced implicitly in the blue group's theme
• "James, Riggins, Sanders, Sayers" — Hall of Fame running backs that form today's blue group answers
• "Rangers, Bruins, Islanders, Stars" — NHL teams whose names are obfuscated in today's purple group

Sentiment: 5 Dek: NYT Connections Sports Edition puzzle 594 is live — groups include baseball stats, fast verbs, Hall of Fame running backs, and NHL teams with their first letter removed. Primary rubric: other Cover type: abstract Company logo domain: null Cover keyword: Colorful grid of word tiles on a smartphone screen in a dimly lit living room