Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today's Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today's NYT Connections puzzle has a trend that carries through all four categories. All of them start with the phrase "starting with" -- and wow, that's kind of meta. Read on for clues and today's Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today's Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Magic phrases.

Green group hint: A colony of ants is one.

Blue group hint: Say it again.

Purple group hint: The Mississippi or the Amazon.

Answers for today's Connections groups

Yellow group: Starting with incantations.

Green group: Starting with animal group names.

Blue group: Starting with synonyms for "repeat."

Purple group: Starting with parts of a river.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today's Connections answers?

The yellow words in today's Connections

The theme is starting with incantations. The four answers are charm bracelet, curse word, hex key and spell checker.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is starting with animal group names. The four answers are murder mystery, pack rat, Pride Rock and school days.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is starting with synonyms for "repeat." The four answers are copy editor, Echo Park, mirror selfie and quote unquote.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is starting with parts of a river. The four answers are bank teller, bed head, Delta Airlines and mouth guard.

Toughest Connections puzzles

We've made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they'll help you see patterns in future puzzles.

#5: Included "things you can set," such as mood, record, table and volleyball.

#4: Included "one in a dozen," such as egg, juror, month and rose.

#3: Included "streets on screen," such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.

#2: Included "power ___" such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.

#1: Included "things that can run," such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.