NYT Connections – How To Play

Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.

Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.

There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.

As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.

Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.

Today’s NYT Connections Word List

Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.

Today’s 16 words are...

• TIN CAN
• JACKET POTATO
• COAT OF ARMS
• MASH
• CLOAK-AND-DAGGER
• CREST
• CHIPS
• CAPE MAY
• HELMET
• TOP SECRET
• FREE WILL
• HUSH-HUSH
• BUBBLE AND SQUEAK
• GRAPE MUST
• COVERT
• SHIELD

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — [YouTube link]

• 🟩 Green group — tubular tea-time tuber options
• 🟦 Blue group — signs of a good knight
• 🟪 Purple group — look forward to the future... maybe

NYT Connections – One Answer Per Group

Need some extra help?

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

Here we go…

• 🟨 Yellow group — COVERT
• 🟩 Green group — CHIPS
• 🟦 Blue group — CREST
• 🟪 Purple group — TIN CAN

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — clandestine
• 🟩 Green group — British potato dishes
• 🟦 Blue group — heraldic achievements
• 🟪 Purple group — ending in modal auxiliary terms

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your last chance to look away.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

This was one of those games that I was able to figure out in seconds. A lovely balm for my delicate brain.

Having a potato-related group with JACKET POTATO as one of the terms is a bit on the nose. Still, I got the greens first.

CLOAK-AND-DAGGER made the yellows clear to me immediately as I was writing out the word list. After submitting that, I pretty much figured out the purples and blues simultaneously.

That's win number 457 on the trot for me, and I got there with a perfect game today.

How did you get on this time? Here's my grid:

🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Want to know more about how everything fits together? Let’s explore today’s game in more depth in my NYT Connections Answers Explained column right here:

That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Wednesday’s game if you need them.

P.S. It’s been like five minutes since I mentioned my favorite band. I realized I haven't recommended this song from them yet, so here we are.

I think if I’m going to get my partner’s kid into Electric Callboy (she already enjoys rock music thanks to her dad), I have two starting points: "Ratatata," which features Babymetal, and the breakdown of "Tekkno Train." I’m not afraid to admit that I sometimes listen to a minute-long supercut of said breakdown, just so I can do the "choo choo choo" bit over and over. Thie song is headbangingly heavy, danceable, catchy, silly and just plain fun. It’s Electric Callboy in a nutshell:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.