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...

• COOL
• WHIP
• MASK
• RIDE
• NEEDLE
• CAMP
• FAN
• WHEELS
• AUTO
• BODYSUIT
• HEAT
• ROAST
• DAY
• CLAWS
• BRA
• RIB

NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — poke fun at
• 🟩 Green group — related to a home regulator that really has nothing to do with the Department of Housing and Urban Development
• 🟦 Blue group — linked to a frenemy of a knight who mostly operates in darkness
• 🟪 Purple group — these can help you get ready to go, so to speak

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 — RIDE
• 🟩 Green group — FAN
• 🟦 Blue group — BODYSUIT
• 🟪 Purple group — DAY

NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — tease
• 🟩 Green group — thermostat settings
• 🟦 Blue group — features of a Catwoman costume
• 🟪 Purple group — training _____

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...

• 🟨 Yellow group — tease (NEEDLE, RIB, RIDE, ROAST)
• 🟩 Green group — thermostat settings (AUTO, COOL, FAN, HEAT)
• 🟦 Blue group — features of a Catwoman costume (BODYSUIT, CLAWS, MASK, WHIP)
• 🟪 Purple group — training _____ (BRA, CAMP, DAY WHEELS)

BODYSUIT, CLAWS and WHIP helped me figure out the blues. I have a sudden urge to watch Batman Forever. It's been a long time since I've seen that film! BRA and WHEELS then made the purples clear enough (and now I want to rewatch Training Day as well).

I had a feeling from the jump that NEEDLE, RIB and ROAST would go together, but I didn't deduce the fourth word until this point. With fewer options on the grid, RIDE made the most sense. That got me the yellows. The greens then wrapped things up (I know that pretty well, considering the heat pump in my place is runs 24/7).

That's win number 411 in a row on the board for me. 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’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 Friday’s game if you need them.

P.S. I love when bands I like that headline festivals and can easily run stadium shows in the UK/Europe hop over the pond and play venues that can’t even pack in 1,000 people. Such is the case with one of my long-time faves Biffy Clyro. I’ve seen them many times, but only once since I moved to Canada. I'm excited to see them in a small venue here in a few weeks.

I’ve loved this song of theirs since I was a young lad who was first getting into heavy music. I enjoy Biffy’s current work, but "57" has a beautifully jagged edge to it that the more polished production can't touch:

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.