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 #452) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- BASH
- BAG
- COLOR
- SACK
- RECEPTION
- BLOWOUT
- LAND
- PAN
- CUT
- BLAST
- YARD
- SCORE
- SLAM
- SNAG
- TRIM
- ATTEMPT
NYT Connections today (game #452) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Things done to hair
- Green: Disapprove verbally
- Blue: Acquire
- Purple: Gridiron data
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 #452) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: HAIR SALON OFFERINGS
- GREEN: CRITICIZE
- BLUE: OBTAIN
- PURPLE: MEASURED IN FOOTBALL STATS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #452) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #452, are…
- YELLOW: HAIR SALON OFFERINGS BLOWOUT, COLOR, CUT, TRIM
- GREEN: CRITICIZE BASH, BLAST, PAN, SLAM
- BLUE: OBTAIN BAG, LAND, SCORE, SNAG
- PURPLE: MEASURED IN FOOTBALL STATS ATTEMPT, RECEPTION, SACK, YARD
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Fail
You know how you get the five stages of grief? I'm going through something similar with Connections. First, enjoyment at finding a new game to play each day, then satisfaction as I grappled with it, mostly winning, sometimes losing. That was followed by bewilderment as I began losing regularly, then self-loathing as I decided I was just too stupid to win each day. And now? Now I've reached boredom: it's simply no fun to play each day.
Connections appears to have almost no balance to it. Some days are impossibly hard, others are incredibly easy. Within a game, a 'blue' group – supposedly the second toughest – can be a lot more simple to solve than an 'easy' yellow one. There are words that nobody could be expected to know, sometimes – or to know that they can be used in a particular context, at least. And there is a huge geographical bias that puts anyone outside of the US at a massive disadvantage. And that last factor in particular costs me a guess or two nearly every single day.
It is, simply, nowhere near as enjoyable as Wordle or even Strands. Playing it is randomly stressful and regularly unsatisfactory.
Today, there's a group about football (yawn; I guess we'll get baseball tomorrow right?) and one about hair salons that features the word BLOWOUT, a term I've never heard in that context. I solved one group (the blue 'obtain' one) but couldn't make anything from the remaining 12 words and effectively gave up and guessed randomly until I lost.
Maybe I should have solved one of the others; maybe I should be better read, or I should take more time over it. But today at least, I didn't look at the answers and think 'Oh, you idiot Marc, you should have solved that.' Instead, I just shrugged and moved on with my day – which is presumably not the attitude that the NYT is seeking here.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 4 September, game #451)
- YELLOW: VERY SMALL AMOUNT HINT, SHRED, TOUCH, TRACE
- GREEN: PUPPY PURCHASES BED, BOWL, COLLAR, CRATE
- BLUE: HELP PUT ON A PARTY CATER, HOST, PLAN, THROW
- PURPLE: SYMBOLS ON A KEYBOARD BRACE, CARET, HASH, STAR
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.
