The weekend starts with a very hard Connections puzzle, in my experience. You might well want some hints for it – although in my case luck was enough…
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 #412) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- BEAR
- DETOUR
- RADIUS
- YIELD
- FOX
- TANGENT
- REVERSE
- SNACK
- TEN
- GENERATE
- DIGRESSION
- RIGHT
- PRODUCE
- ASIDE
- ARE
- BABE
NYT Connections today (game #412) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Conversational diversions
- Green: Make?
- Blue: Attractive person
- Purple: Represented by a specific letter
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 #412) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: OFF-TOPIC REMARKS
- GREEN: CREATE, AS RESULTS
- BLUE: HOTTIE
- PURPLE: WORDS REPRESENTED BY THE LETTER "R"
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #412) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #412, are…
- YELLOW: OFF-TOPIC REMARKS ASIDE, DETOUR, DIGRESSION, TANGENT
- GREEN: CREATE, AS RESULTS BEAR, GENERATE, PRODUCE, YIELD
- BLUE: HOTTIE BABE, FOX, SNACK, TEN
- PURPLE: WORDS REPRESENTED BY THE LETTER "R" ARE, RADIUS, REVERSE, RIGHT
- My rating: Hard
- My score: Perfect
Fortunately, luck is not a limited quality, in that you can be very lucky one day and also lucky the next. That happens, right? Well, it's just as well, because if not then I would have used up an entire lifetime of luck on today's Connections.
The first two groups, which I solved in the order green (create results) and yellow (off-topic remarks) were both straightforward, but things got a lot harder for the final two. In fact, they got so hard that I literally had no idea what either answer could be. Zero. Zilch. I stared at the board for what seemed like hours, but which was in reality about 30 minutes, spread over a few sessions, and eventually decided to give up. I simply could not assemble FOX, RIGHT, REVERSE, BABE, SNACK, RADIUS, TEN and ARE into two groups. I couldn't even spot a couple of words that might go together.
Rather than stop playing, I thought I should at least guess blindly, so went with BABE, FOX, TEN and SNACK entirely by random. Or maybe my unconscious brain spotted something that my conscious brain didn't? Either way, I guessed those four and… it was right! Now, I have never, ever heard the term SNACK used to me a 'hottie', so I don't know what's going on there, but I'm not complaining. And no, I wouldn't have got the 'R' group – that's a really difficult one.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 26 July, game #411)
- YELLOW: BASIC DIRECTIONS DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, UP
- GREEN: ADVOCATE FOR BACK, CHAMPION, ENDORSE, SUPPORT
- BLUE: DRAWBACK CON, DING, MINUS, STRIKE
- PURPLE: INSTRUMENT HOMOPHONES BASE, LIAR, LOOT, SYMBOL
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.
