Connections can be a tricky game, and it's one that you're only able to make four mistakes in or suffer the indignity of a failure. If you find yourself on the brink of disaster, you might want to read on for my hopefully helpful hints.
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 #402) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- PACK
- CART
- CHECK
- HAMPER
- BANK
- WASHING
- SCHOOL
- LAUNDROMAT
- BIDE
- PRIDE
- CURB
- NIX
- POST OFFICE
- INHIBIT
- SUPERMARKET
- SWARM
NYT Connections today (game #402) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: High street heroes
- Green: Stop it
- Blue: Lots of critters
- Purple: POTU
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 #402) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: BUILDINGS AROUND TOWN
- GREEN: HINDER
- BLUE: ANIMAL GROUP NAMES
- PURPLE: STARTS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #402) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #402, are…
- YELLOW: BUILDINGS AROUND TOWN BANK, LAUNDROMAT, POST OFFICE, SUPERMARKET
- GREEN: HINDER CHECK, CURB, HAMPER, INHIBIT
- BLUE: ANIMAL GROUP NAMES PACK, PRIDE, SCHOOL, SWARM
- PURPLE: STARTS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS BIDE, CART, NIX, WASHING
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
Some classic misdirection by the NYT here, and it cost me a couple of guesses. The first group I focused on was what turned out to be the green 'Hinder' group; I had NIX, CURB, HAMPER and INHIBIT. When that didn't work, I changed HAMPER for CHECK… and it still didn't work.
At that stage I looked elsewhere, rather than risking using up any more guesses, and spotted the easy yellow BANK, LAUNDROMAT, POST OFFICE, SUPERMARKET group. Then I got the 'animal groups' connection, which though blue – and supposedly the third hardest – didn't feel particularly difficult.
That left eight answers, of which five still fit that 'Hinder' angle. But rather than risk another mistake there I instead focused on the other three words, BIDE, WASHING and CART, and realized with a lightbulb moment that they could all form parts of presidents' names. That put NIX where it needed to be and I completed this Connections game.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 16 July, game #401)
- YELLOW: IN A BAD MOOD CROSS, SHORT, SURLY, TESTY
- GREEN: EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATORY, PILOT, PRELIMINARY, TRIAL
- BLUE: STARTS OF BROADWAY MUSICALS FIDDLER, JERSEY, KINKY, MERRILY
- PURPLE: PETER ___ PAN, PARKER, PIPER, RABBIT
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.
