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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThese are the hints and answers for NYT Connections: Sports Edition #499, released Wednesday, February 4, 2026—not the standard Connections puzzle from the same date. The four category hints, in order, are “Nice victory!”, “I’ll give you that guy for this guy,” “Where to play,” and “Florida hoops.” Full answers are below the spoiler warning.
Hints for Sports Edition #499
Use these clues to try each group before looking at the solutions:
- “Nice victory!”
- “I’ll give you that guy for this guy”
- “Where to play”
- “Florida hoops”
Spoilers: the February 4 answers
The answer groups below are reported by Parade’s February 4, 2026 puzzle page. One green-group word has a transcription discrepancy between answer sources: Parade lists ACCEPTS, while TechBoltz lists ACCEPT. The exact original grid is not established here, so verify that tile if exact spelling matters.
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | WIN SMOOTHLY | BREEZE, COAST, CRUISE, WALTZ |
| Green | FANTASY SPORTS TRADE OPTIONS | ACCEPTS (Parade) / ACCEPT (TechBoltz), COUNTER, PROPOSE, REJECT |
| Blue | AREAS OF PLAY, IN DIFFERENT SPORTS | COURSE, COURT, FRONTON, RINK |
| Purple | MEMBER OF THE ORLANDO MAGIC | BANCHERO, BANE, BLACK, SUGGS |
How to approach the trickier groups
Separate the easy-win verbs from literal places
BREEZE, COAST, CRUISE, and WALTZ can all describe winning or progressing easily. Some also suggest movement, which can make them look like a sports-action group; focus on the shared sense of an untroubled win.
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Read the trade words as a sequence of responses
The green theme is fantasy sports trade options: a participant can accept, counter, propose, or reject a trade. The disputed tile is the only listed spelling difference between the two answer sources.
Look for kinds of playing areas
COURSE, COURT, FRONTON, and RINK are venues or areas used in different sports. FRONTON is the less familiar word in this set; treat it as the name of a playing area rather than another player or action.
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Recognize the Orlando Magic roster grouping
BANCHERO, BANE, BLACK, and SUGGS are grouped as members of the Orlando Magic in Parade’s answer listing. TechBoltz also lists the group but includes uncertainty in its commentary about Bane; its aside does not establish a different answer.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How Connections: Sports Edition works and where to play
The New York Times Help Center says Connections presents 16 words for players to sort into four groups of four sharing a theme. Yellow is described as the easiest category and purple as the trickiest. The daily game releases at midnight in the player’s timezone. Sports Edition is the sports version brought to solvers by The Athletic.
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You can play through the NYT Help Center’s Connections: Sports Edition page, which lists NYT Games, nytimes.com/theathletic, The Athletic app, and the NYT News app as access points. The same official page says Sports Edition does not have an archive, so this past puzzle cannot be replayed through an official Sports Edition archive.
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