Connections is a very tricky game, and one that you are only able to make four mistakes in or suffer the indignity of a failure. If you find yourself on the brink of disaster, you might want to read on for my hints.
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 #359) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- STAFF
- HAT
- MAKE
- BRIDGE
- HATCH
- NET
- ROBE
- SPAN
- CLEAR
- KEEL
- CLEF
- SECTION
- SUITE
- BEARD
- DECK
- EARN
NYT Connections today (game #359) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Pay packet
- Green: Gandalf's wardrobe
- Blue: Ship shape
- Purple: Third 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 #359) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: TAKE HOME, AS INCOME
- GREEN: PARTS OF A WIZARD COSTUME
- BLUE: FOUND ON A SHIP
- PURPLE: C-___
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #359) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #359, are…
- YELLOW: TAKE HOME, AS INCOME CLEAR, EARN, MAKE, NET
- GREEN: PARTS OF A WIZARD COSTUME BEARD, HAT, ROBE, STAFF
- BLUE: FOUND ON A SHIP BRIDGE, DECK, HATCH, KEEL
- PURPLE: C-___ CLEF, SECTION, SPAN, SUITE
- My rating: Easy
- My score: One mistake
I've marked this as easy even though I didn't get a perfect score, because really I have nobody to blame but myself.
I started by solving the yellow and green groups without too many problems. As always, I pondered a couple of potential directions for the first one – maybe BRIDGE and SPAN could go together meaning 'go over a gap', or maybe BRIDGE and CLEF formed some kind of musical grouping – but after a while decided that EARN, MAKE, NET and CLEAR must go together and indeed they did. Next I spotted that STAFF and ROBE were obvious parts of a wizard costume, and paired them with BEARD and HAT to make a Gandalf-esque green set.
I was pretty sure something boat-like was going to form another group, and had BRIDGE, DECK and KEEL lined up as three of them. The fourth? Well, I know a HATCH is sometimes found on a boat, but not always. The same goes for a SUITE, right? If it's a fancy cruise ship or yacht, at least. So I went with the latter and lost one guess there. I righted my wrong immediately afterwards and was left to play the purple set by default, as always. And no, I wouldn't have got it – for starters, I have no idea what C-SPAN or C-SUITE are…
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 3 June, game #358)
- YELLOW: REMOVE, AS BODY HAIR LASER, PLUCK, THREAD, WAX
- GREEN: TWIST AROUND COIL, SPOOL, WIND, WRAP
- BLUE: THINGS MADE OF CELLS HONEYCOMB, ORGANISM, SOLAR PANEL, SPREADSHEET
- PURPLE: B-___ BALL, MOVIE, SCHOOL, VITAMIN
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.
