Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for Dec. 15, #83

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition has a mix of difficult and easy categories every day, but sometimes I’m confused by the classification. Purple is always the toughest — at least in regular Connections — but today’s purple category feels like it’s easy enough to be a yellow category. See what you think, and read on for hints and answers.

Read more: NYT Has a Connections Game for Sports Fans. I Tried It

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: Velocity.

Green group hint: Laker is one.

Blue group hint: Go, Birds.

Purple group hint: Rose and Super, also.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Pace.

Green group: NBA team names, in singular form.

Blue group: Eagles QBs.

Purple group: ___ Bowl.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pace. The four answers are cadence, rhythm, speed and tempo.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NBA team names, in singular form. The four answers are Buck, Grizzly, Pelican and Sun.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Eagles QBs. The four answers are Cunningham, Hurts, McNabb and Wentz.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ Bowl. The four answers are Alamo, Gator, Liberty and Orange.