It's time for your daily instalment of the NYT's Connections game. If you've not played it before, you're in for a treat. If you have, you'll know what to expect and why it's such great fun.
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 #396) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- ТАРЕ
- RECORDING
- HAND
- SEND
- APPLAUSE
- KEY
- PASS
- PRINCIPAL
- RULER
- WALK
- STAPLE
- PEN
- ESSENTIAL
- SCISSORS
- GIVE
- EXIT
NYT Connections today (game #396) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Pack your bag
- Green: This is important
- Blue: Take this
- Purple: Up in lights
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 #396) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: SCHOOL SUPPLIES
- GREEN: FUNDAMENTAL
- BLUE: TRANSFER
- PURPLE: LIGHT-UP SIGNS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #396) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #396, are…
- YELLOW: SCHOOL SUPPLIES PEN, RULER, SCISSORS, TAPE
- GREEN: FUNDAMENTAL ESSENTIAL, KEY, PRINCIPAL, STAPLE
- BLUE: TRANSFER GIVE, HAND, PASS, SEND
- PURPLE: LIGHT-UP SIGNS APPLAUSE, EXIT, RECORDING, WALK
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
The NYT threw a lot of misdirection into today's Connections. Most concerned school – where PRINCIPAL and PASS could easily have fit alongside the actual answers, while STAPLE and KEY could also potentially have played a part. Although when I write it down now, it doesn't seem like the connection was that strong, but at the time I felt a bit confused.
Anyway, after puzzling over it for a while I focused on the FUNDAMENTAL connection, picking ESSENTIAL, KEY, PRINCIPAL and STAPLE. Next, I looked at APPLAUSE and RECORDING and thought of TV studios, then added EXIT and WALK to form the supposedly toughest purple group. Yellow – which was indeed SCHOOL SUPPLIES – was now much easier to solve, which left blue to complete by default.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 10 July, game #395)
- YELLOW: FUTURE LIKELIHOOD CHANCE, FORECAST, OUTLOOK, PROSPECT
- GREEN: BACK TALK ATTITUDE, CHEEK, LIP, SASS
- BLUE: FISH BASS, FLUKE, PERCH, PIKE
- PURPLE: COMPONENTS OF EYEGLASSES BRIDGE, LENS, RIM, TEMPLE
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.
