Connections: Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for April 11, 2026, puzzle No. 565

By Mark Cooper, Managing Editor, College Sports, The Athletic

BOSTON — The Athletic’s daily brain-teaser, Connections: Sports Edition, returned early this morning with puzzle No. 565, challenging readers to sort 16 sports-related words into four tidy quartets before racking up four strikes. For players who prefer a nudge rather than a surrender, today’s column offers a graduated lifeline: one confirmed answer per category sits just below, followed by the complete solution grid.

As always, the categories are color-coded by difficulty once revealed—yellow for the most straightforward, green for moderate, blue for tough, and purple for the deviously tricky. Today’s board opened with a thematic hint: “Starts with part of the body,” listing ARMY, EARTHQUAKES, LEGACY, and LIVERPOOL. That clue alone sent many users scrambling to spot anatomical prefixes hidden inside team names or phrases.

For solvers who wish to keep the mystery alive, stop here; the next paragraphs contain incremental spoilers.

First confirmed answer (one per category): • Yellow category: Sports ____ — Fan, Car, Bar, Radio • Green category: U.S. Summer Olympians — Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles • Blue category: Starts with part of the body — ARMY, EARTHQUAKES, LEGACY, LIVERPOOL • Purple category: To be revealed in full grid below

Complete answers for April 11, 2026, puzzle No. 565: Yellow: Fan, Car, Bar, Radio Green: Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles Blue: ARMY, EARTHQUAKES, LEGACY, LIVERPOOL Purple: ( withheld per source; players must visit the bottom of the original post )

Connections: Sports Edition refreshes daily at midnight local time, offering a new 4×4 matrix and a fresh chance at streak perfection. Share your score—or your agony—in the comments section beneath the puzzle.

Mark Cooper is the managing editor for college sports at The Athletic, based in Boston. He previously oversaw breaking news for the publication and created Connections: Sports Edition. Follow him on Twitter @mark_cooperjr.