New York, May 9, 2026, 14:08 (EDT)
Saturday’s May 9 Connections puzzle from The New York Times mixed up TV lingo, neckties, knotted cords, and “___ piece” expressions. Over in Connections: Sports Edition, the focus landed on Big 12 mascots, ballpark anthems, and players from the San Diego Padres. Parade
NYT Games isn’t just a niche pastime anymore. In 2024, players tackled the Times’ puzzles 11.1 billion times, with Connections alone racking up 3.3 billion solves, spokesperson Jordan Cohen said to The Verge.
The crowded guide market now rallies around every daily drop. On May 9, CNET’s Sports Edition guide surfaced in Yahoo’s tech feed. Parade and Tom’s Guide, for their part, ran hints and answers for the standard Connections puzzle that same day.
For the regular puzzle, solvers found four confirmed groups: “Units of TV programs,” “Things worn around the neck,” “Strings tied in knots,” and “___ piece.” The answers broke down as follows: EPISODE, SEASON, SERIES, FRANCHISE; BOA, CHAIN, LANYARD, TIE; FRIENDSHIP BRACELET, MACRAMÉ, QUIPU, SHOELACES; and CONVERSATION, PERIOD, PUFF, THINK. Word Finder
Tom’s Guide ran through the grid: Puff, Episode, Tie, Shoelaces, Period, Chain, Season, Think, Lanyard, Friendship Bracelet, Conversation, Series, Quipu, Boa, Franchise, and Macrame. According to the site, the Times’ Connections Companion pegged the puzzle with a 2.3 out of 5 on the difficulty scale.
No. 593, dubbed the Sports Edition puzzle, didn’t stick to the usual script. Parade rolled out four categories: terms for a young athlete, Big 12 athlete, artists behind stadium anthem staples, and San Diego Padres roster members.
Answers included FROSH, PROSPECT, ROOK, and TENDERFOOT; then BEARCAT, BUFFALO, COUGAR, and KNIGHT; followed by AC/DC, DARUDE, QUEEN, and SURVIVOR; and finally BOGAERTS, KING, SHEETS, and TATIS. Technobezz flagged the Padres names as a classic purple-group trap—KING, SHEETS, and TATIS might look like they belong elsewhere, but the roster link locks them in.
The game sticks with its familiar setup—16 terms, four groups of four—but this time leans heavier on sports trivia. According to Technobezz, Saturday’s round challenged players on college mascots, stadium rock anthems, and up-to-date MLB rosters.
Mark Cooper, who manages news and edits puzzles at The Athletic, figures the sports twist works: “sports fans are competitive,” he said, plus the world of sports is packed with “overlapping words and names and statistics.” Speaking with Awful Announcing, Cooper added that the game is designed as a daily routine—something to draw readers further into The Athletic. Awful Announcing
Wyna Liu, puzzle editor for Connections at NYT Games, told Parade it typically takes her “two to two and a half hours” to put together a standard board—brainstorming and research included. No surprise, then, that Saturday’s puzzle featured straightforward categories alongside trickier picks like quipu and the “___ piece” wordplay. Parade
Still, there’s a minor archival snag if you’re tracking puzzles by number instead of by date. Parade and Tom’s Guide called the May 9 edition No. 1,063, but WordFinder pegged it as No. 1,064. Matching by the May 9 date and the four category groupings is the safest bet.
This isn’t just about a single Saturday puzzle—it’s about building a habit. Daily puzzle players now have more options, with competitors like Hearst, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Zynga joining the fray, The Verge noted. NYT Games, for its part, keeps expanding its lineup past Wordle, Connections, and Strands.
