The first of your two weekend Connections puzzles is not too difficult. As always, the NYT has thrown in a few red herrings, and the purple group is always tough, but there's nothing out of the ordinary here.
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 #391) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- SAW
- DOG
- JUG
- BOTTLE
- PHONE
- FREEZE
- CELL
- SPOONS
- MOBILE
- PROTEIN
- RATTLE
- ATOM
- WASHBOARD
- PRICE
- MOLECULE
- CRIB
NYT Connections today (game #391) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: They make up everything
- Green: Getting the nursery ready
- Blue: You won't find these in an orchestra
- Purple: Blank [something that attaches]
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 #391) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: BIOLOGICAL BUILDING BLOCKS
- GREEN: PURCHASES FOR A BABY
- BLUE: OBJECTS PLAYED AS INSTRUMENTS
- PURPLE: ___ TAG
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #391) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #391, are…
- YELLOW: BIOLOGICAL BUILDING BLOCKS ATOM, CELL, MOLECULE, PROTEIN
- GREEN: PURCHASES FOR A BABY BOTTLE, CRIB, MOBILE, RATTLE
- BLUE: OBJECTS PLAYED AS INSTRUMENTS JUG, SAW, SPOONS, WASHBOARD
- PURPLE: ___ TAG DOG, FREEZE, PHONE, PRICE
- My rating: Easy
- My score: 1 mistake
I have a question: what is a FREEZE TAG? Actually, I have a second one: what is a PHONE TAG? Is that a reference to the likes of Apple's AirTags? I am puzzled.
But anyway, that doesn't matter because they were part of the purple group, and by the time I got to that one I'd already solved the other three. Plus ca change.
Yellow was particularly easy today, with the likes of ATOM and MOLECULE immediately standing out. I solved the blue one next, though I did make one mistake, playing BOTTLE rather than JUG as an OBJECT PLAYED AS INSTRUMENTS. Technically, I wasn't wrong – you can play a bottle, after all. But it wasn't correct on this occasion. CRIB, MOBILE, BOTTLE, RATTLE for 'baby purchases' was pretty simple too, meaning the purple group and those puzzling tags was solved by default.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 5 July, game #390)
- YELLOW: YEARN DESIRE, LONG, PINE, YEN
- GREEN: MAGAZINES FORTUNE, MAD, NATURE, O
- BLUE: CHARACTERS IN BOND MOVIES BOND, M, MONEYPENNY, Q
- PURPLE: WORDS THAT PRECEDE “POP” IN MUSIC GENRES BUBBLEGUM, EURO, K, POWER
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.
