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...

• WEDDING
• MENAGERIE
• ONION
• NEWSPAPER
• CEILING
• SLIPPERS
• TREE
• CAT
• DOOR
• TATTOO
• PIPE
• WALL
• KEY
• WINDOW
• STREETCAR
• ROBE

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — observed where we might use an inside voice
• 🟩 Green group — kick back like you’re in the '50s
• 🟦 Blue group — like phoenix, bird and iguana
• 🟪 Purple group — napkin, phone and bling would fit in here

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 — WALL
• 🟩 Green group — PIPE
• 🟦 Blue group — TATTOO
• 🟪 Purple group — TREE

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — room features
• 🟩 Green group — old-timey lounging accessories
• 🟦 Blue group — subjects in Tennessee Williams titles
• 🟪 Purple group — _____ ring

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...

KEY might have gone with the yellows, but I didn't think it quite fit with all of the room features.

I thought for a second that ONION, NEWSPAPER and TREE might go together as in things with several layers. Nothing else quite fit with those other. WALLpaper seemed close but didn't make sense either.

As I racked my brain for ONION references (even though I detest the darn things), I eventually landed on "ring." WEDDING solidified that as a group for me, and I had the purples.

PIPE, ROBE and SLIPPERS then fit together as a very comfortable outfit and NEWSPAPER sealed the greens.

Although A STREETCAR Named Desire popped into my head when I saw STREETCAR, I don't know Tennessee Williams' work well enough at all to have figured out the blues. So that was my default category for today.

The blues refer to the plays:

• CAT on a Hot Tin Roof
• The Glass MENAGERIE
• A STREETCAR Named Desire
• The Rose TATTOO

Nevertheless, that’s a perfect game for me, and win number 456 in a row on this strange and wacky journey.

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

🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦

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 Tuesday’s game if you need them.

P.S. I learned about a band called Way Dynamic when I recently checked my local concert listings. I’ve only listened to one song from them so far, but “People Settle Down” is a delightful slice of slightly funky indie pop:

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.