NYT Connections Hints for May 15: Full Guide, Tips, and Solutions

Looking to crack today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? This guide breaks down how the game works, smart solving strategies, themed clues, and today’s full solution plus a breakdown of why the words go together. Let’s dive in.

What is NYT Connections: Sports Edition?

Connections is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times where you're given a grid of 16 words. Your goal? Sort them into four groups of four that share a common theme. Unlike Wordle, which focuses on single-word guessing, Connections is all about pattern recognition.

In the Sports Edition, themes revolve around athletic terms - think team names, player roles, slang, rules, or wordplay. Some words can mislead you by appearing to belong to more than one category.

Each group is colour-coded by difficulty:

• Yellow – The simplest to spot
• Green – A bit trickier
• Blue – Quite challenging
• Purple – The most obscure, often involving wordplay or creative leaps

How to Play NYT Connections

Visit the New York Times Games section online or via the app. You’ll see 16 words randomly arranged. Pick four that you think belong together, then press Submit. Get it right, and those four will lock in and vanish from the grid. You’re allowed up to four wrong guesses - any more, and it’s game over.

Smart Solving Strategies

• Say it out loud: Hearing the words helps detect rhymes, alliteration, or similar sounds.
• Think in themes: Groupings often center on sports terms—player types, equipment, slang, or movements.
• Spot patterns: Look for repeated sounds, prefixes, or suffixes.
• Be deliberate: Don’t rush into guesses. A single mistake eats into your chances.
• Look sideways: Especially with harder groups, connections may rely on puns or less obvious associations.

The key is to slow down and think like a puzzle creator -what’s the clever twist here?

Today’s NYT Sports Connections May 15 Hints

Yellow – Justification or underlying support

Green – types or conditions of snow/ice

Blue – Opera references

Purple – common phrase ending in “affair”

Today’s NYT Sports Connections May 15 Categories

• Yellow: Rationale
• Green: Types of snow
• Blue: Last words of famous opera titles
• Purple: Real ___

Today’s NYT Sports Connections May 15 Answers

Rationale: BASIS, FOUNDATION, GROUNDS, REASON

Types of snow: CRUST, ICE, POWDER, SLUSH

Last words of famous opera titles: BESS, BUTTERFLY, FLUTE, SEVILLE

Real ___: DEAL, ESTATE, MADRID, WORLD

Keep checking back daily for new puzzles and remember, Connections isn’t just about vocabulary, but also about intuition, logic, and attention to detail. If you found today’s challenge fun or frustrating, know that tomorrow brings a whole new set of twists.

Read more: NYT Connections May 13 Hints: Full Guide, Tips, and Solutions