Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 9, #77

Some days, the New York Times’Connections: Sports Editionjust defeats me completely.

But other days, I feel super-sports-smart because I sail through it.

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

I Tried It

Today’s puzzle didn’t strike me as too hard.

Read on for full clues and hints.

Yellow group hint:The score is 2-2.

Green group hint:A certain Lady Gaga song.

Blue group hint:Catch that ball!

Purple group hint:Gophs is another one.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group:Dead heat.

Green group:Poker variants.

Blue group:NFL wide receivers.

Purple group:Colloquial CFB nicknames.

The theme is dead heat.

The four answers are deadlock, draw, stalemate and tie.

The theme is poker variants.

The four answers are Hold’Em, Horse, Razz and Stud.

The theme is NFL wide receivers.

The four answers are Lamb, Lockett, St. Brown and Waddle.

The theme is colloquial CFB nicknames.

The four answers are Hogs, Huskers, Noles and Vols.