NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, March 24 (game #652)

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
(Image credit: New York Times)
Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 23 (game #651).

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 Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #652) - today's words

NYT Connections hints for game 652 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • MATURE
  • EARTH
  • UNIFORM
  • RANK
  • LEVEL
  • RIPE
  • PHOTOSHOP
  • EVERYONE
  • HENHOUSE
  • STABLE
  • TEEN
  • ONION
  • FOUL
  • ADULTS ONLY
  • CONSTANT
  • SOUR

NYT Connections today (game #652) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: It’s off
  • GREEN: Stays the same 
  • BLUE: Who can play 
  • PURPLE: The common word is a synonym for sheets

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 #652) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: BAD-SMELLING 
  • GREEN: UNFLUCTUATING 
  • BLUE: WHO VIDEO GAMES ARE FOR, PER ESRB RATINGS 
  • PURPLE: THINGS WITH LAYERS 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #652) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 652 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #652, are…

  • YELLOW: BAD-SMELLING FOUL, RANK, RIPE, SOUR
  • GREEN: UNFLUCTUATING CONSTANT, LEVEL, STABLE, UNIFORM
  • BLUE: WHO VIDEO GAMES ARE FOR, PER ESRB RATINGS ADULTS ONLY, EVERYONE, MATURE, TEEN
  • PURPLE: THINGS WITH LAYERS EARTH, HENHOUSE, ONION, PHOTOSHOP

  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 2 mistakes

I used up a Mistake today thinking MATURE, RIPE, SOUR, RANK described the shelf life of cheese, but I wasn’t far away from BAD-SMELLING – which, in the case of some cheeses, can be a good thing.

Next I thought that CONSTANT was the start of a group dealing with temperature before seeing the obvious link of UNFLUCTUATING. I dream of being unfluctuating.

Finally, there was a classic Connections joke in the final group, with HENHOUSE being one of the THINGS WITH LAYERS. If only I was sharp enough to see it before the end. The flaw of Connections is that you don’t need to ever get this final group, but for me at least that’s a constant blessing.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 23 March, game #651)

  • YELLOW: CAPTIVATE ABSORB, ENTRANCE, GRAB, RIVET
  • GREEN: THINGS WITH WINGS AIRPLANE, FAIRY, FLY, HOSPITAL
  • BLUE: WORDS THAT MODIFY "WATCH" POCKET, SMART, STOP, WRIST
  • PURPLE: WORDS REPEATED IN "MISS MARY MACK" BACK, BLACK, BUTTONS, MACK

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.

Contributor

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.

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