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 #436) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- CAT
- CRANK
- BLOW
- POP
- LION
- GRINCH
- WIND
- TURTLE
- CRAB
- REEL
- DRAFT
- RAM
- PUFF
- BULL
- TURN
- GUST
NYT Connections today (game #436) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Is there a breeze in here?
- Green: Twist
- Blue: Heavenly creatures
- Purple: Doctor of rhymes
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 #436) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: RUSH OF WIND
- GREEN: ROTATE
- BLUE: ZODIAC SYMBOLS
- PURPLE: DR. SEUSS TITLE FIGURES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #436) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #436, are…
- YELLOW: RUSH OF WIND BLOW, DRAFT, GUST, PUFF
- GREEN: ROTATE CRANK, REEL, TURN, WIND
- BLUE: ZODIAC SYMBOLS BULL, CRAB, LION, RAM
- PURPLE: DR. SEUSS TITLE FIGURES CAT, GRINCH, POP, TURTLE
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
Damn you, NYT. Putting WIND in a puzzle with BLOW, DRAFT, GUST and PUFF is guaranteed to cause problems with anyone stupid enough to fall into your trap – and that's exactly what I did. Damn you!
To make matters worse, that yellow group was the easiest of the four today, although it was the one that cost me two mistakes. I had already spotted the Dr Seuss connection for purple, with POP (in socks), CAT (in the hat) and GRINCH, but couldn't work out what the final one was. So I left that and focused on the others, and after my brief foray into getting wind-related answers wrong, was able to solve yellow and green.
That left five answers: BULL, LION, TURTLE, CRAB and RAM. One went with Dr Seuss, the other four formed the blue group. I deliberated for ages, then spotted the zodiac group, and was able to play TURTLE to complete purple by default. And in case you're wondering, it was Yertle the turtle…
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 19 August, game #435)
- YELLOW: MUSIC GENRES BLUES, COUNTRY, FOLK, ROCK
- GREEN: BRATWURST GO-WITHS BRAT, BUN, MUSTARD, SAUERKRAUT
- BLUE: YOGA POSES CHAIR, MOUNTAIN, TREE, WARRIOR
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH PIXAR MOVIES COCONUT, SOULMATE, UPDO, WALLET
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.
