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.

NYT Connections Hints – Today’s 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...

• MEMENTO
• LEFT FIELD
• SCHOOL CROSSING SIGN
• PITCHER'S MOUND
• FIRST BASE
• NOWHERE
• HOME PLATE
• FILM NERD
• THE PENTAGON
• THE BLUE
• MAKING OUT
• JEANS BACK POCKET
• TONSIL HOCKEY
• BURGER KING WHOPPER
• THIN AIR
• NECKING

NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — the beginning of a grand love story, perhaps
• 🟩 Green group — like a doodle of a house, sea star or one face of a dodecahedron
• 🟦 Blue group — where did that come from? Well, here, maybe
• 🟪 Purple group — at the end of the day, one might want a sweet treat (but only one!)

NYT Connections Hints – 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 — FIRST BASE
• 🟩 Green group — SCHOOL CROSSING SIGN
• 🟦 Blue group — NOWHERE
• 🟪 Purple group — FILM NERD

NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — canoodling
• 🟩 Green group — five-sided things
• 🟦 Blue group — unexpected places to be “out of”
• 🟪 Purple group — ending in candy brands minus "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...

Despite having PITCHER'S MOUND, LEFT FIELD and HOME PLATE on the grid, I felt that FIRST BASE would have to go with the other kissing terms of MAKING OUT, TONSIL HOCKEY and NECKING. Thankfully, I was right, and got the yellows.

LEFT FIELD and THE BLUE made sense as things that from which something could emerge unexpectedly, and that got me the blues. The only way I could see THE PENTAGON making sense with anything here is that it has five sides. I had to look up the SCHOOL CROSSING SIGN, but that made sense with the others for the greens.

I didn't figure out the purple category. Annoying, since we had a group of candy words just a few weeks ago!

In any case, my streak is now up to 432.

How did you get on today? 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 brings my current stint of NYT Connections coverage to a close! I’ll be back with you here for more shenanigans on Monday. In the meantime, you can read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.

P.S. Here’s a fun song that the YouTube algorithm offered up to me. I really enjoyed “Next Big Thing” by False Advertising. It’s a high-octane slice of rock and roll. Great name for a band, too:

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.