Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
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 #526) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- DOMINO
- DRYER
- FIDDLER
- LADYBUG
- INTERNET
- HORSESHOE
- SPIDER
- RENT
- HAIRSPRAY
- GAS
- DALMATIAN
- COMB
- PHONE
- HERMIT
- ROLLERS
- DIE
NYT Connections today (game #526) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: You might find them in a hair salon
- Green: Payday expenses
- Blue: They're dotty
- Purple: Sideways movers
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 #526) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: USED IN HAIR CARE
- GREEN: MONTHLY EXPENSES
- BLUE: THINGS WITH SPOTS
- PURPLE: ___ CRAB
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #526) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #526, are…
- YELLOW: USED IN HAIR CARE COMB, DRYER, HAIRSPRAY, ROLLERS
- GREEN: MONTHLY EXPENSES GAS, INTERNET, PHONE, RENT
- BLUE: THINGS WITH SPOTS DALMATIAN, DIE, DOMINO, LADYBUG
- PURPLE: ___ CRAB FIDDLER, HERMIT, HORSESHOE, SPIDER
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
I nearly scored a reverse rainbow today, which I've only done once before. This is the NYT's term for when you solve the four Connections groups in reverse difficulty order – so purple, then blue, then green, then the easiest yellow.
Unfortunately (sort of – it really doesn't matter in reality!) I got blue first, so that dream died there. But it was strange that my brain spotted the two hardest ones initially and had to work a bit harder to solve green and yellow.
Blue was a good one: THINGS WITH SPOTS, with DALMATIAN, DIE, DOMINO and LADYBUG. I always find it helpful to not just look at the words, but also think visually about them. Doing that here gave me the image of a spotty dalmatian and domino, at which point I went in search of others and found them both.
Purple, meanwhile, was one that required a little general knowledge. I haven't actually heard of a FIDDLER CRAB, but I knew HERMIT, SPIDER and HORSESHOE, and FIDDLER fit better than any of the other remaining words (INTERNET CRAB? HAIRSPRAY CRAB? Obviously not!) so I played that and guessed correctly. Green and yellow were pretty simple by that stage, so I completed today's without any mistakes – a rarity for me.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 17 November, game #525)
- YELLOW: ALLIANCE ASSOCIATION, GUILD, LEAGUE, UNION
- GREEN: CLOSE-FITTING CLINGY, SLEEK, SLINKY, SNUG
- BLUE: OCCASIONS WHEN ONE MIGHT KNEEL APOLOGY, DUBBING, PRAYER, PROPOSAL
- PURPLE: WHAT AN APOSTROPHE MIGHT INDICATE CONTRACTION, FOOT, POSSESSIVE, QUOTATION
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.
