Connections: Sports Edition – Hints and Answers for February 21, 2026

The Athletic’s daily puzzle, Connections: Sports Edition, challenges players to group sixteen words into four categories of four, testing their sports knowledge and pattern recognition skills. If you’re stuck on today’s puzzle (February 21, 2026), here are hints and the solutions.

How to Play

Connections: Sports Edition requires players to identify four groups of four words that share a common connection. A correct grouping is submitted by tapping or clicking the four selected words. The game allows for up to four errors before it ends. Learn more about the game here.

Hints for Today’s Puzzle

Here are hints for each category, ranked from easiest to most difficult:

• Yellow: Vintage Line State.
• Green: Hoops legend.
• Blue: Robert Redford movie.
• Purple: Vroom-vroom.

Answers for Today’s Puzzle

Here are the solutions to today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle:

Yellow: Maryland Teams

• Midshipmen
• Orioles
• Ravens
• Terrapins

Green: Shaquille O’Neal Nicknames

• Massive Aristotle
• Diesel
• Shaq
• Superman

Blue: Associated with “The Natural”

• Baseball
• Hobbs
• Knights
• Wonderboy

Purple: Sports That Have a Driver

• Bobsled
• F1
• Golf
• Water Polo

Where to Play

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, a subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The New York Times. It is available within The Athletic’s app or can be played for free online.