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.

As someone who still thinks the 1980s are the best decade ever (I co-wrote a book about it), the purple category in today's NYT Connections puzzle was a fun one for me. 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: Where two things or places come together.

Green group hint: Not non-fiction.

Blue group hint: You might learn this in a basic astronomy class.

Purple group hint: Rock out.

Answers for today's Connections groups

Yellow group: Border.

Green group: Kinds of fiction.

Blue group: Words in a planetary mnemonic.

Purple group: Starting with four-letter '80s bands.

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 border. The four answers are flank, neighbor, skirt and touch.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is kinds of fiction. The four answers are historical, literary, pulp and science.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is words in a planetary mnemonic. The four answers are educated, mother, my and very. ("My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles" is a memory device some people use to remember the order of the planets from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.)

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is starting with four-letter '80s bands. The four answers are asiago (Asia), devote (Devo), Totoro (Toto) and whammy (Wham).

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.