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NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle #165 was published on Friday, March 7, 2025. The answer groups are college football bowl games, NBA teams with their final “S” removed, WNBA All-Stars, and MLB players who appeared in The Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat.” Use the hints below to control the spoilers, or continue for the complete solution.
How Connections: Sports Edition works
Connections gives you 16 sports-related terms and asks you to divide them into four groups of four. The groups follow the familiar color system: yellow is generally the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple, which is usually the most specialized or difficult.
NYT Games offers the broader Connections experience, while Sports Edition focuses its clues on sports and sports culture.
Hints for Connections: Sports Edition #165
Stop here if you want to solve the puzzle yourself. These clues become progressively more specific.
#1 Best Overall
- One group consists of postseason college football games.
- One group becomes recognizable NBA team names when a final letter is added.
- One group contains prominent women’s basketball players.
- One group consists of baseball players connected to a famous animated-TV episode.
Stronger hints
- The NBA entries need a final S.
- The women’s basketball players are WNBA stars.
- The baseball players appeared in The Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat.”
The four categories
| Category | Entries |
|---|---|
| College football bowl games | ALAMO, CITRUS, ORANGE, SUGAR |
| NBA teams, minus the “S” | MAVERICK, PACER, ROCKET, SUN |
| WNBA All-Stars | BONNER, BOSTON, LOYD, PLUM |
| MLB players in “Homer at the Bat” | BOGGS, CLEMENS, SAX, STRAWBERRY |
Complete answers and explanations
College football bowl games
ALAMO, CITRUS, ORANGE, SUGAR
- ALAMO — the Alamo Bowl
- CITRUS — the Citrus Bowl
- ORANGE — the Orange Bowl
- SUGAR — the Sugar Bowl
These words can initially look like food, flavor, or place clues. Together, however, they form a clean set of college football bowl names.
NBA teams with the final “S” removed
MAVERICK, PACER, ROCKET, SUN
- MAVERICK becomes Mavericks
- PACER becomes Pacers
- ROCKET becomes Rockets
- SUN becomes Suns
This is the puzzle’s spelling-manipulation category. The entries are not the official singular names of the franchises; each becomes an NBA team name when its final S is restored.
Rank #2
WNBA All-Stars
BONNER, BOSTON, LOYD, PLUM
- BONNER — DeWanna Bonner
- BOSTON — Aliyah Boston
- LOYD — Jewell Loyd
- PLUM — Kelsey Plum
All four entries are surnames. That matters because BOSTON can suggest a city or team, while PLUM can suggest a fruit or color.
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BOGGS, CLEMENS, SAX, STRAWBERRY
- BOGGS — Wade Boggs
- CLEMENS — Roger Clemens
- SAX — Steve Sax
- STRAWBERRY — Darryl Strawberry
These four baseball players appeared in the classic The Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat.” This is the most specialized connection in the puzzle: recognizing the players individually is not enough unless you also remember their shared appearance in the episode.
A practical solving path
- Start with the bowl games. ALAMO, CITRUS, ORANGE, and SUGAR become convincing when viewed as a group, even though ORANGE and CITRUS invite fruit-related guesses.
- Look for a missing-letter pattern. MAVERICK, PACER, ROCKET, and SUN all become NBA franchises after adding the final “S.”
- Test names across sports. BONNER, BOSTON, LOYD, and PLUM are player surnames rather than cities, foods, or general nouns.
- Use the leftovers carefully. BOGGS, CLEMENS, SAX, and STRAWBERRY point to the “Homer at the Bat” lineup.
Red herrings to watch for
- Food and fruit: CITRUS, ORANGE, PLUM, and STRAWBERRY.
- Ordinary nouns: PACER, ROCKET, and SUN.
- Places: ALAMO, BOSTON, and ORANGE.
- Baseball associations: BOGGS, CLEMENS, SAX, and STRAWBERRY look like a general baseball group before the episode connection becomes clear.
The key lesson is to avoid committing to a category after finding only three plausible words. Connections groups must fit all four entries, and this puzzle deliberately uses words with strong non-sports meanings.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Final recap
Connections: Sports Edition #165, published March 7, 2025, breaks down as follows: ALAMO, CITRUS, ORANGE, SUGAR are bowl games; MAVERICK, PACER, ROCKET, SUN become NBA teams when pluralized; BONNER, BOSTON, LOYD, PLUM are WNBA All-Stars; and BOGGS, CLEMENS, SAX, STRAWBERRY are MLB players from “Homer at the Bat.”
Answer key and date reference: Parade’s coverage of Sports Edition #165. Player discussion is available in the NYTConnections subreddit.
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