Connections Sports Edition #77 is the puzzle for Monday, December 9, 2024. This page explains how the sports version works, how to approach it without spoilers, and how to confirm the exact answer groups for that date. It does not print an answer key, because we could not verify the day’s hints, four categories, and sixteen words against an official NYT archive record.
What Connections Sports Edition asks you to do
The Sports Edition is a variant of the daily Connections grouping puzzle published by The New York Times, with The Athletic as a partner. You receive sixteen words and must sort them into four groups of four. Each group shares a single sports-related category, and the words in a group should fit that category and no other group.
Puzzle #77 follows the same mechanics. Because the categories are sports-themed, the connections often rely on teams, leagues, equipment, venues, or terms that mean one thing in everyday English and another in a sporting context.
Why searches for “December 9” can return the wrong puzzle
Connections is published every day, and the Sports Edition has its own numbering. A December 9 search can surface pages from other years. A Parade explainer titled “NYT Connections Sports Edition Today: Hints, Answers, December 9” dates from 2025 and covers that year’s December 9 puzzle, not #77. Before you use any hint, check that the puzzle number or date in the page matches Connections Sports Edition #77, Monday, December 9, 2024.
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How to solve #77 without spoilers
- Find the most certain group first. Look for four words that clearly belong to one sport or one kind of sporting term. Locking in a confident group shrinks the remaining choices.
- Check words with two meanings. Sports puzzles often place a word that looks like it belongs in one group but actually fits a different category. Test each candidate against the full category before committing.
- Watch for leftover words. When twelve words remain in three groups of four, the last words often form a group only after the others are removed.
- Say the category aloud. Stating a category in one short phrase, such as “things a goalkeeper does,” makes it easier to reject words that fit only loosely.
How to confirm the answers for December 9, 2024
- Open the New York Times Games section and go to the Connections archive.
- Select the Sports Edition and find the entry dated Monday, December 9, 2024, labeled Puzzle #77.
- Compare the date and number with the puzzle you are playing before reading any hint.
- If a hint is revealed, solve one group at a time, and stop once you have the remaining groups on your own.
If you are stuck
- You have a group of five possible words. One of them belongs to another category. Look for the word that could also fit a different group of leftovers.
- Every remaining guess looks wrong. Reset your thinking by listing the four categories you have already confirmed and checking whether any remaining word fits one of them better than the group you assigned it to.
- The date does not match. You are likely looking at a different year’s Sports Edition. Use the puzzle number as the final check.
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