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 #538) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- ROCK
- PALM
- FAST
- MODERN
- NAIL
- SWING
- SCREW
- KNUCKLE
- ACE
- TAP
- SWIPE
- CURVE
- JAZZ
- LIFT
- CRUSH
NYT Connections today (game #538) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Shake your moves
- Green: Take without permission
- Blue: Make a big success of it
- Purple: From the mound
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 #538) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: DANCE STYLES
- GREEN: STEAL
- BLUE: PERFORM WELL ON
- PURPLE: ___BALL PITCHES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #538) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #538, are…
- YELLOW: DANCE STYLES JAZZ, MODERN, SWING, TAP
- GREEN: STEAL LIFT, PALM, POCKET, SWIPE
- BLUE: PERFORM WELL ON ACE, CRUSH, NAIL, ROCK
- PURPLE: ___BALL PITCHES CURVE, FAST, KNUCKLE, SCREW
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
The days on which I solve purple are not all that frequent, so I was pleased to NAIL it today. Or maybe I should say to ACE it. Or CRUSH it or ROCK it. Except no, that group – PERFORM WELL – was the blue one that I solved by default, though I think I would have got it if I'd have needed to.
Instead, purple was ___BALL PITCHES, with CURVE, FAST, KNUCKLE and SCREW, and despite previously having complained about how regularly the NYT puts baseball or other mainly US-only sports into Connections, somehow I got this one. Admittedly, it's among the easier purple groups; I made a couple of incorrect guesses before getting it, because SCREW didn't occur to me, but the other three are well known and feature in my preferred sport, cricket, too.
Yellow and green, meanwhile, were both fairly easy, making this a reasonably approachable Connections game overall.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 29 November, game #537)
- YELLOW: UNDERTAKING ENDEAVOR, ENTERPRISE, PROJECT, VENTURE
- GREEN: UNITS HERTZ, MOLE, SECOND, VOLT
- BLUE: M.L.B. TEAM MEMBER NATIONAL, RAY, TIGER, TWIN
- PURPLE: FIRST WORDS OF HBO SHOWS BOARDWALK, CURB, GAME, SILICON
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.
