Here's another mightily tough Connections puzzle for you. I solved it, but it took me a while. If you need some help, read on…
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 #413) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- BUTTERFLY
- TUXEDO
- PEACOCK
- NERVE
- BEETHOVEN
- SPINE
- WILLY
- JACKET
- CORNUCOPIA
- KALEIDOSCOPE
- TORTOISESHELL
- JITTER
- CALICO
- COVER
- TABBY
- PAGE
NYT Connections today (game #413) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Keen readers will know these
- Green: Who's a pretty feline?
- Blue: Worry
- Purple: Words containing something you eat
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 #413) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: PARTS OF A BOOK
- GREEN: CAT COAT PATTERNS
- BLUE: NERVOUSNESS, IN THE SINGULAR
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH VEGETABLES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #413) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #413, are…
- YELLOW: PARTS OF A BOOK COVER, JACKET, PAGE, SPINE
- GREEN: CAT COAT PATTERNS CALICO, TABBY, TORTOISESHELL, TUXEDO
- BLUE: NERVOUSNESS, IN THE SINGULAR BUTTERFLY, JITTER, NERVE, WILLY
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH VEGETABLES BEETHOVEN, CORNUCOPIA, KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 mistake
The final purple group in today's game is one of my favorite types of Connections puzzle: the hidden word. In this case, it was vegetables at the start of other words, for instance CORN in CORNUCOPIA and PEA in PEACOCK. Clever, eh?
Yes indeed, but it took me a while to spot it. Alright, it took me ages to spot it. The problem was, I had to find it – because the blue group, 'NERVOUSNESS, IN THE SINGULAR' remained entirely out of my mind's reach too. With hindsight, I should have spotted that one, and indeed my daughter – who was helping me today – did say to me something along the lines of "Dad, JITTER and NERVE could go together!" To which I responded that NERVE was the wrong tense for it, it's not nervous, it's nerve, like in the body. But I was completely and utterly wrong, thrown off by the NYT's decision to make the answers singular. What an idiot. If my daughter is reading this, I will listen to you next time.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 27 July, game #412)
- 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
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.
