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 #445) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- PLAYER
- GAMBLE
- BROWN
- YOUNG
- COUNT
- SMITH
- NOBLE
- DUKE
- UPRIGHT
- CONSIDER
- GRAND
- JUDGE
- ELECTRONIC
- REGARD
- HOWARD
- JOHNSON
NYT Connections today (game #445) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: They have keys
- Green: Think about
- Blue: Places of learning
- Purple: Something & something
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 #445) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: KINDS OF PIANOS
- GREEN: DEEM
- BLUE: U.S. COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES
- PURPLE: SECOND NAMES IN COMPANIES WITH AMPERSANDS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #445) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #445, are…
- YELLOW: KINDS OF PIANOS ELECTRONIC, GRAND, PLAYER, UPRIGHT
- GREEN: DEEM CONSIDER, COUNT, JUDGE, REGARD
- BLUE: U.S. COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES BROWN, DUKE, HOWARD, SMITH
- PURPLE: SECOND NAMES IN COMPANIES WITH AMPERSANDS GAMBLE, JOHNSON, NOBLE, YOUNG
- My rating: Hard
- My score: Fail
Yeah, OK, this was just too difficult for me. That's my fifth Connections fail in the past 12 days, which implies either that I'm not very good at this, or that this game has gotten harder recently. I don't really have any complaints here, beyond that the blue 'universities' group is very, very difficult for those players who are not in the US – as I am not. I did spot BROWN and DUKE, but didn't know any other possibles and simply guessed blindly until I lost.
Purple was even harder. Again, I spotted a couple of options in JOHNSON (& Johnson) and (Proctor &) GAMBLE, but NOBLE and YOUNG… no chance. I now realize that NOBLE must relate to BARNES &, but am still none the wiser about YOUNG.
To make matters worse, even yellow and green were quite tough. I'm still yet to lose a Wordle in nearly 1,000 games, but Connections is an entirely different matter – this game is hardcore.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 28 August, game #444)
- YELLOW: PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT MONKEY BARS, SLIDE, SWINGS, TEETER-TOTTER
- GREEN: FOUND AT THE END OF A STRING/CORD PENDULUM, TEA BAG, TETHERBALL, YO-YO
- BLUE: DESCRIBED AS DRY DESERT, HUMOR, MARTINI, TEETOTALER
- PURPLE: BABY ___ BLUES, BOOMER, STEPS, TEETH
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.
