It's the end of the week, but Connections rumbles on like a big word-crushing juggernaut. Need some help for today's game? Read on.
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 #397) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- ODD
- LIBRARY
- CHOCOLATE
- SOAP
- PIGEON
- MOTHER
- RED
- LAB
- BLACK
- GREY
- GYM
- PEACE
- GOLDEN
- EVEN
- SILLY
- AUDITORIUM
NYT Connections today (game #397) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Not the classroom, but the…
- Green: Spin the wheel
- Blue: White bird link
- Purple: blank water bird
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 #397) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: SCHOOL FACILITIES
- GREEN: ROULETTE BETS
- BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH “DOVE”
- PURPLE: ___ GOOSE
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #397) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #397, are…
- YELLOW: SCHOOL FACILITIES AUDITORIUM, GYM, LAB, LIBRARY
- GREEN: ROULETTE BETS BLACK, EVEN, ODD, RED
- BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH “DOVE” CHOCOLATE, PEACE, PIGEON, SOAP
- PURPLE: ___ GOOSE GOLDEN, GREY, MOTHER, SILLY
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Fail
If I've learned one thing from today's Connections, it's this: don't play when you have a hangover. Only a slight one, admittedly, but still enough to knock off my stride apparently. Although that said, I don't know if I would have solved it anyway. The first group, 'School facilities', should have been getable, but it would never occur to me to associate an AUDITORIUM with a school. Possibly not a LAB, either; I think maybe schools in the UK in the 1980s were a little less well served with facilities than the average American high school…
I should definitely have got the green ROULETTE BETS group, but instead got hung up on colors. I thought maybe there was a labrador retriever connection, possibly because I have one myself, so played various combinations of RED, GOLDEN, BLACK, CHOCOLATE and GREY until I exhausted all of my guesses. I simply couldn't see what other connection there was. I'd never have got the 'Dove' group, because I've never heard of dove chocolate, and though I could have got the _Goose group, I simply didn't spot that connection either. Poor form.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 11 July, game #396)
- YELLOW: SCHOOL SUPPLIES PEN, RULER, SCISSORS, TAPE
- GREEN: FUNDAMENTAL ESSENTIAL, KEY, PRINCIPAL, STAPLE
- BLUE: TRANSFER GIVE, HAND, PASS, SEND
- PURPLE: LIGHT-UP SIGNS APPLAUSE, EXIT, RECORDING, WALK
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.
