It's the start of a new month, but the same old Connections, now more than one year into its run and firmly established as a word game behemoth. This one isn't too tricky, but there are some hints below if you need them.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
NYT Connections today (game #386) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- PYRAMID
- PRINCE
- BRITISH
- SEAL
- STING
- WASHINGTON
- NOVA
- USHER
- NORTHWEST
- RACKET
- LEAD
- EAGLE
- CON
- DIRECT
- HUSTLE
- GUIDE
NYT Connections today (game #386) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Tell you where to go
- Green: Don't fall for it
- Blue: Examine the contents of your wallet
- Purple: Beginning of the names of some northern areas
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #386) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: SHOW THE WAY
- GREEN: SCHEME
- BLUE: SEEN ON A U.S. DOLLAR BILL
- PURPLE: FIRST WORDS OF CANADIAN PROVINCES/TERRITORIES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #386) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #386, are…
- YELLOW: SHOW THE WAY DIRECT, GUIDE, LEAD, USHER
- GREEN: SCHEME CON, HUSTLE, RACKET, STING
- BLUE: SEEN ON A U.S. DOLLAR BILL EAGLE, PYRAMID, SEAL, WASHINGTON
- PURPLE: FIRST WORDS OF CANADIAN PROVINCES/TERRITORIES BRITISH, NORTHWEST, NOVA, PRINCE
- My rating: Easy
- My score: 1 mistake
I made one error here, but on reflection this isn't too bad as Connections puzzles go. My mistake was around what I thought was single-name musicians: STING, USHER, PRINCE, SEAL. However, all four actually belonged in different groups, so that was some (probably deliberate) misdirection by the NYT.
I ultimately solved the four groups in difficulty order, with DIRECT, GUIDE, LEAD and USHER the first answer I got, followed by the green 'SCHEME' connection. With the two more difficult groups left, I focused on the US DOLLAR BILL angle, because I could see three of them: EAGLE, WASHINGTON and PYRAMID. I couldn't come up with a fourth, though, until I stopped thinking so logically and realized that SEAL wasn't referring to the cute mammal. D'oh!
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 30 June, game #385)
- YELLOW: OLD SAYING ADAGE, CHESTNUT, MAXIM, SAW
- GREEN: GRILL FUEL SOURCES CHARCOAL, ELECTRIC, GAS, WOOD
- BLUE: TREES ASH, CHERRY, EBONY, GUM
- PURPLE: HOT TUB COMPONENTS FILTER, HEATER, JET, PUMP
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
