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...

• LOOSEY-GOOSEY
• CONVENTION
• CHECK IN
• BAGGAGE CLAIM
• CARRY-ON
• CUSTOM
• CHECKOUT LANE
• FOLLOW UP
• ASSEMBLY LINE
• EL NIÑO
• SOCIAL NORM
• TOUCH BASE
• REVOLVING SUSHI BAR
• UNWRITTEN RULE
• RECONNECT
• TAILOR-MADE

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — it's been a while since we spoke
• 🟩 Green group — it is how it is
• 🟦 Blue group — escalating the movement of people and things
• 🟪 Purple group — [YouTube link]

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 — CHECK IN
• 🟩 Green group — UNWRITTEN RULE
• 🟦 Blue group — ASSEMBLY LINE
• 🟪 Purple group — EL NIÑO

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — reach back out
• 🟩 Green group — the way things are done
• 🟦 Blue group — places with conveyor belts
• 🟪 Purple group — starting with name homophones

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...

This is one of those games that looked a little daunting at first, but after writing out the word list, I was able to zip through it in no time at all. RECONNECT and TOUCH BASE made the yellows clear, and there wasn't much else that REVOLVING SUSHI BAR could really be referring to in this context.

While at this point I’d usually submit what I reckon to be the purples after the other remaining group became clear, I opted not to do that for some odd reason. Greens, then purples sealed my 446th win in a row.

Can't say I love the purple group today. It feels a bit too tenuous, as if it was pieced together after landing on the airport/air travel red herring and needing three other phrases to go with CARRY-ON.

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. You can check that out by visiting my author page.

That brings my latest weekday run of this column to a close. Don’t fret, though, I’ll be back with you here for more Connections fun on Monday. In the meantime, you can read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.

P.S. I’ve had Sum 41 on my mind again recently, in large part because I just saw my favorite band live again. They perform a cover of “Still Waiting” since Sum 41’s former drummer is currently touring with them.

I really like “Landmines,” from the Sums’ final album, Heaven :x: Hell. It’s a darn good pop-punk song that’s peppered with references to the band’s previous work and Sum 41’s time as a band drawing to an end. The video is a lot of fun 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. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.