Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for December 13, #81

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Today’s blue category Connections: Sports Edition reminded me of one of the most helpless, exaggerated laughing sessions I’ve ever had. Years ago, my husband and his best friend were playing a primitive, old-fashioned football game where you could choose the name of your team and the game would assign you a mascot. I don’t know what game it was, but let’s just say it was not Madden, or anything remotely well designed.

Anyway, one of the players ended up getting this huge bee as a mascot. Head, antenna, mandibles, thorax, the whole lot. Something about a little insect being blown up to human size and jumping around like Mary Lou Retton on the sidelines made us all laugh and laugh until we thought our sides were going to split. If any of us got together, we would look at the screen again, see the bobbing bee, and lose it all over again. So when I saw a mascot category in today’s Connections: Sports Edition, it made me smile, even though I literally have no idea who these specific mascots are.

For now, Connections: Sports Edition is in beta, meaning the Times is testing it to see if it’s popular before adding it to the site’s Games app. You’ll be able to play it for free daily for the next few weeks – and then we’ll have to see if it sticks.

Read more: NYT has a Connections game for sports fans. I tried it

Tips 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 difficult (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Think Lindsey Vonn.

Green group hint: Stylish shoes.

Blue group hint: Crunch the Wolf is another one.

Purple group hint: Sounds like there’s a sport going on.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Ski equipment.

Green group: Athletic brand logos.

Blue group: NBA mascots.

Purple group: Sports onomatopoeias.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here are the most popular letters used in English words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is ski equipment. The four answers are boots, goggles, poles and skis.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is logos of sports brands. The four answers are Jumpman, puma, swoosh and three stripes.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is NBA mascots. The four answers are Benny, Burnie, Chuck and Rumble.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports onomatopoeias. The four answers are bloop, clank, doink and swish.