Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 28, #217

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 217, for April 28.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials

• Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won “Headline Writer of the Year”​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.

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.

Connections: Sports Edition must be incredibly difficult to assemble. I’ve noticed numerous categories where the puzzle maker falls back in picking a certain athlete, and then listing that person’s past teams, often including college and national or Olympic teams. Hint: There’s one like that today. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.  

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Social media trends Viral content 2025 Trending hashtags Social media updates Trending memes and videos 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: I want this one.

Green group hint: Win a medal here.

Blue group hint: Hoopster’s history.

Purple group hint:  It’s also a hat.

Social media trends Viral content 2025 Trending hashtags Social media updates Trending memes and videos Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Choose.

Green group: Last four Summer Olympics hosts.

Blue group: Teams Kevin Durant has played for.

Purple group: ____ Derby.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

Social media trends Viral content 2025 Trending hashtags Social media updates Trending memes and videos What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is choose. The four answers are draft, pick, select and take.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is last four Summer Olympics hosts. The four answers are London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams Kevin Durant has played for. The four answers are Texas, Thunder, United States and Warriors.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ derby. The four answers are home run, Kentucky, Manchester and roller.