NYT Connections Sports Edition Hints and Answers Today (May 18, 2026) — Puzzle #602

Looking for today's NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers? Puzzle #602 dropped on Monday, May 18, 2026, and it's a clever mix of vocabulary, football strategy, Pacific Northwest sports, and sneaky MLB wordplay that will test every corner of your sports knowledge.

Below you'll find progressive, spoiler-free hints for each category — plus the full answers with detailed explanations.

🧩 Today's 16 Words

Here are all 16 words on today's Connections Sports Edition board:

DUCK · DIP · DRAW · SLUMP · DOWNTURN · TIMBER · RANGE · DODGE · SWEEP · ANGE · THORN · COUNTER · MARINE · TRAIL BLAZER · DECLINE · DIVE

Your job: sort these 16 words into 4 groups of 4, each sharing a hidden connection. You get 4 mistakes before the game ends. Let's break it down!

🔍 Hints for Today's Puzzle (Spoiler-Free)

Try these progressive hints before jumping to the full answers. Each hint gets more specific — use as few as possible!

🟨 Yellow Category Hints (Easiest)

• Hint 1: Think about which direction these words go — and it's not up.
• Hint 2: These words all describe something losing value or momentum.
• Hint 3: You'd use them to describe a stock market crash or a team's losing streak.
• Hint 4: Synonyms for "drop" or "decrease."

🟩 Green Category Hints

• Hint 1: Think about what happens after the snap on a football field.
• Hint 2: These are all types of offensive plays — specifically when the running back gets the ball.
• Hint 3: One of them sounds like a cleaning action, another like an art technique.
• Hint 4: All four are specific types of football running plays from the offensive playbook.

🟦 Blue Category Hints (Tricky)

• Hint 1: These words are all connected to a specific U.S. state.
• Hint 2: Think Pacific Northwest — specifically, teams that play in this region.
• Hint 3: One is a college mascot, one is an MLS team, one is an NWSL team, and one is an NBA team.
• Hint 4: They're all Oregon-based sports teams — from Eugene to Portland.

🟪 Purple Category Hints (Hardest)

• Hint 1: These words look like normal everyday words, but they're hiding something.
• Hint 2: Each one is almost a full team name — but something's been chopped off.
• Hint 3: Try adding two letters to the end of each word.
• Hint 4: They're all MLB team names with the last two letters removed — Angels, Dodgers, Mariners, Rangers.

✅ Full Answers & Explanations

🟨 Yellow — Slide

DECLINE, DIP, DOWNTURN, SLUMP

The easiest group today features four words that are all synonyms for a downward slide. A market decline, a dip in performance, an economic downturn, and a batting slump — all describe something heading in the wrong direction. In sports, you might hear a commentator say a team is "in a slump" or that a player's stats have "taken a dip." The tricky part? DIP and DIVE both sound like they fit here, but DIVE belongs in the football plays category.

🟩 Green — Football Running Plays

COUNTER, DIVE, DRAW, SWEEP

This category groups four classic football running plays from the offensive playbook:

• Counter — the running back fakes one direction then cuts back the opposite way
• Dive — a quick, straight-ahead plunge into the line of scrimmage
• Draw — the quarterback fakes a pass before handing off for a delayed run
• Sweep — the running back takes a wide path around the end of the line

The trap here is that COUNTER, DRAW, and SWEEP all have strong non-football meanings. COUNTER could be a kitchen counter, DRAW could mean an art sketch, and SWEEP could mean cleaning — classic Connections misdirection!

🟦 Blue — An Oregon Athlete

DUCK, THORN, TIMBER, TRAIL BLAZER

All four words represent Oregon-based sports teams (in their singular form):

• Duck — Oregon Ducks (NCAA, University of Oregon in Eugene)
• Thorn — Portland Thorns FC (NWSL, one of the league's most storied franchises)
• Timber — Portland Timbers (MLS, known for their passionate fan base and the iconic log-cutting celebration)
• Trail Blazer — Portland Trail Blazers (NBA, "Rip City")

This is a great geography-based category. DUCK is the trickiest word here because it could easily be mistaken for a verb (duck as in "dodge") or an animal, rather than a college sports mascot. Meanwhile, TIMBER feels like it could belong to a lumberjack theme rather than a soccer team.

🟪 Purple — MLB Teams, Minus the Last Two Letters

ANGE, DODGE, MARINE, RANGE

The hardest category requires recognizing that all four words are MLB team names with the final two letters removed:

• ANGE + LS = Angels (Los Angeles Angels)
• DODGE + RS = Dodgers (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• MARINE + RS = Mariners (Seattle Mariners)
• RANGE + RS = Rangers (Texas Rangers)

This is quintessential purple-level wordplay. DODGE looks like it belongs with DUCK as an evasion word, MARINE could seem military-related, and RANGE feels like it could be a golf or shooting term. The key insight? All four words become MLB franchises when you tack on two letters. Notice that three of them add "RS" while ANGE adds "LS" — a subtle asymmetry that makes it even harder to spot the pattern.

💡 Strategy Breakdown — How to Solve #602

Here's the optimal solving order for today:

1. Lock in the Slide synonyms first (Yellow): DECLINE, DIP, DOWNTURN, SLUMP — the most obvious group of related words. Be careful not to include DIVE.
2. Spot the football running plays (Green): COUNTER, DIVE, DRAW, SWEEP — once you recognize these are all from a playbook, they click together. DIVE is the one that almost looks like a "slide" synonym.
3. Group the Oregon athletes (Blue): DUCK, THORN, TIMBER, TRAIL BLAZER — if you know Pacific Northwest sports, these stand out. TRAIL BLAZER is the biggest giveaway since it's so distinctively Portland.
4. Purple falls into place: ANGE, DODGE, MARINE, RANGE — the remaining four, all MLB teams minus two letters. Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Pro Tip: Today's biggest trap is the word DIVE. It feels like a perfect fit for the "Slide" category (as in "took a dive"), but it's actually a football running play (a dive play). Similarly, DODGE looks like it should go with DUCK as evasion words, but it's actually hiding the Dodgers. Always test your assumptions by asking: "Does this word work in a completely different sports context?"

🎯 Difficulty Rating

Category	Color	Difficulty	Trap Words
Slide	🟨	⭐ Easy	DIVE (feels like it fits)
Football Running Plays	🟩	⭐⭐ Moderate	COUNTER, DRAW, SWEEP
An Oregon Athlete	🟦	⭐⭐⭐ Tricky	DUCK, TIMBER
MLB Teams, Minus Last 2 Letters	🟪	⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard	DODGE, MARINE, RANGE

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐ Medium-Hard. The Slide category is a gimme, the football plays are gettable if you know your gridiron terminology, but the Oregon athletes require Pacific Northwest sports knowledge. The real killer is Purple — recognizing truncated MLB team names is devious wordplay that will stump most solvers.

📊 Today's Puzzle at a Glance

• Puzzle Number: #602
• Date: Monday, May 18, 2026
• Overall Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐ Medium-Hard
• Trickiest Category: 🟪 Purple (MLB teams minus last 2 letters)
• Easiest Category: 🟨 Yellow (Slide synonyms)
• Key Trap Words: DIVE, DODGE, DUCK, COUNTER

🏆 Play More Sports Puzzles

Enjoyed today's puzzle? Try these:

• Play Today's Connections Sports Edition — our free daily sports puzzle with hints and 3 difficulty modes
• Browse the Puzzle Archive — 200+ past puzzles to practice with
• Create Your Own Puzzle — build and share custom sports Connections
• NFL Connections — dedicated football puzzles
• NBA Connections — basketball-themed word puzzles
• NYT Connections Hints Today — hints for the standard NYT puzzle

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What are today's Connections Sports Edition answers?

Connections Sports Edition #602 (May 18, 2026) answers: 🟨 Slide (DECLINE, DIP, DOWNTURN, SLUMP), 🟩 Football Running Plays (COUNTER, DIVE, DRAW, SWEEP), 🟦 An Oregon Athlete (DUCK, THORN, TIMBER, TRAIL BLAZER), 🟪 MLB Teams, Minus the Last Two Letters (ANGE, DODGE, MARINE, RANGE).

What is Connections Sports Edition?

Connections: Sports Edition is a daily word puzzle from The Athletic (part of The New York Times). It works like the regular NYT Connections — sort 16 words into 4 groups of 4 — but all categories are sports-themed, covering NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, soccer, and more.

What time does a new Sports Edition puzzle come out?

A new puzzle drops every day at midnight Eastern Time (ET). We update our hints and answers page as soon as it's available.

How is Sports Edition different from regular NYT Connections?

All categories are sports-related. Regular NYT Connections uses general-knowledge themes (vocabulary, pop culture, wordplay). The Sports Edition focuses exclusively on NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, soccer, tennis, golf, and Olympics.

What do the colors mean?

🟨 Yellow = easiest, 🟩 Green = moderate, 🟦 Blue = tricky, 🟪 Purple = hardest (often wordplay, hidden patterns, or misdirection).

Can I play previous Sports Edition puzzles?

Yes! Browse our free archive of 200+ past puzzles. You can also create your own custom puzzles and share them with friends.