The NYT Connections answers for today (June 1) are potentially quite challenging. Or rather, one of them in particular is. Let's face it, there's always one… namely, the purple one! But don't worry if you're stuck – because my hints should help you solve today's Connections puzzle. And if that's not enough, you can read on for the answers and for my commentary on the game.
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 #356) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- PRESS
- LOCK
- HURRY
- WAVE
- PANE
- FLY
- CURRENT
- CURL
- NOW
- ROW
- STAT
- MARKS
- DRIFT
- PRONTO
- RUSTLE
- TIDE
NYT Connections today (game #356) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: An impatient person speaks
- Green: On (or in?) the high seas
- Blue: Arnie probably did these
- Purple: Deep fort?
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 #356) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: “DON’T DELAY!”
- GREEN: OCEAN PHENOMENA
- BLUE: DUMBBELL EXERCISES
- PURPLE: PHILOSOPHER HOMOPHONES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #356) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #356, are…
- YELLOW: “DON’T DELAY!” HURRY, NOW, PRONTO, STAT
- GREEN: OCEAN PHENOMENA CURRENT, DRIFT, TIDE, WAVE
- BLUE: DUMBBELL EXERCISES CURL, FLY, PRESS, ROW
- PURPLE: PHILOSOPHER HOMOPHONES LOCK, MARKS, PANE, RUSTLE
- My rating: Difficult
- My score: Two mistakes
As is often the case, today's Connections answers break down into two distinct groups – relatively straightforward and rather difficult. And yes, that was entirely in keeping with the color-themed difficulty levels.
I solved the green one first: CURRENT, TIDE, DRIFT and WAVES all stood out immediately, and I played that without thinking too hard to solve the OCEAN PHENOMENA group.
Next, I got a little stuck. It's quite possible that some people will have found the blue set, DUMBBELL EXERCISES, to be much easier than I did. I am not a gym person, so while I had an inkling that the words were something to do with physical exercises, I couldn't quite hit on the right grouping, playing PRESS, ROW, CURL and LOCK first, then PRESS, CURL, LOCK and FLY.
That cost me two guesses, so rather than risk any more losses I moved on. Looking anew at the board I realized that HURRY, NOW, PRONTO and STAT all fit together, so played them to complete “DON’T DELAY!”, yellow.
I then returned to those exercise-themed words, and with a couple now ruled out was able to find the right selection. That just left the monumentally difficult PHILOSOPHER HOMOPHONES, which I doubt I would have solved without it being by default.
Annoyingly, I had started on the right path with this one earlier in the game, reasoning that homophones might be an aspect and that RUSTLE could be RUSSELL. But I was thinking about first names rather than surnames, and therefore missed the philosopher connection: Bertrand Russell (RUSTLE), Thomas Paine (PANE), John Locke (LOCK) and Karl Marx (MARKS). Devious, NYT, very devious.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday 31 May, game #355)
- MOUNT_ FUJI, HOOD, OLYMPUS, WHITNEY
- COMPONENTS OF AN LP INSERT, JACKET, RECORD, SLEEVE
- CORPUS BODY, CANON, OEUVRE, WORKS
- THINGS PEOPLE SHAKE HANDS, MARACA, POLAROID, SNOWGLOBE
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.
