Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 13, #81

2 weeks ago 7

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Today's blue category in Connections: Sports Edition reminded me of one of the most helpless, over-the-top laughing sessions I ever had. Years ago, my husband and his best friend were playing some primitive, old-school football video game, where you could choose your team's name, and the game would assign you a mascot. I don't know which game it was, but let's just say it was not Madden, or anything near that well-designed.

Anyway, one of the players ended up with this enormous bee for their mascot. Head, antenna, mandibles, thorax, the whole shebang. Something about a tiny insect being blown up it human size and jumping around like Mary Lou Retton on the sidelines just made all of us laugh and laugh until we thought our sides would split. When one of us would pull ourselves together, we'd look at the screen again, see the bobbing bee, and completely lose it once again. So when I spotted a mascot category in today's Connections: Sports Edition, I had to smile, even though I literally have no idea who these particular mascots are.

For now, Connections: Sports Edition is in beta, which means the Times is testing it out to see if it's popular before adding it to the site's Games app. You can play it daily for the next few weeks for free — and then we'll have to see if it sticks around.

Hints 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 tough (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 a sport's happening.