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.
NYT Connections today (game #540) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- TRUMPET
- CROQUET
- CROCODILE
- PAPER
- ALLIGATOR
- HAIR
- WHAC-A-MOLE
- HERALD
- POLO PLAYER
- BROADCAST
- LAUREL
- XYLOPHONE
- CARPENTRY
- VIDEO
- SWOOSH
- DECLARE
NYT Connections today (game #540) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Tell everyone
- Green: Tent-pitching is another
- Blue: It's close to your chest
- Purple: Blank [thing that holds other things together]
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 #540) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: ANNOUNCE
- GREEN: THINGS INVOLVING MALLETS
- BLUE: ICON EMBROIDERED ON A POLO SHIRT
- PURPLE: ___ CLIP
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #540) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #540, are…
- YELLOW: ANNOUNCE BROADCAST, DECLARE, HERALD, TRUMPET
- GREEN: THINGS INVOLVING MALLETS CARPENTRY, CROQUET, WHAC-A-MOLE, XYLOPHONE
- BLUE: ICON EMBROIDERED ON A POLO SHIRT CROCODILE, LAUREL, POLO PLAYER, SWOOSH
- PURPLE: ___ CLIP ALLIGATOR, HAIR, PAPER, VIDEO
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
I got a bit caught up on a couple of groups today, but once I'd entangled them this wasn't so bad.
Case in point: the green group, which I figured could be either things you hit with a hammer / need a hammer for, with CROQUET, WHAC-A-MOLE, POLO PLAYER, XYLOPHONE and CARPENTRY all qualifying.
I had too many, though, so after some internal debate decided that you don't use a hammer to hit a polo player (unless you are a very bad person), so if it was 'Things which involve you hitting something with a hammer', you might have XYLOPHONE and WHAC-A-MOLE and CARPENTRY and CROQUET. I went with that in the end and it was right. Well, mostly, – the actual answer was THINGS INVOLVING MALLETS. But close enough.
Similarly, with blue I had in mind something to do with logos, but put ALLIGATOR in place of CROCODILE so lost a couple of guesses there. Clearing up yellow first helped, because it removed more answers, and left me with ICON EMBROIDERED ON A POLO SHIRT, with CROCODILE, LAUREL, POLO PLAYER and SWOOSH – but no alligator.
That featured instead in purple, which I actually would have got even if I hadn't solved it by default; the fairly straightforward ___ CLIP was the solution here.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 1 December, game #539)
- YELLOW: SANCTUARY HAVEN, PORT, RETREAT, SHELTER
- GREEN FOOTBALL GEAR CLEATS, HELMET, JERSEY, PADS
- BLUE: CANDY NAMES CHARMS, KINDER, WONKA, YORK
- PURPLE: “FREE ___” BIRD, FALLIN’, SOLO, WILLY
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.
