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TechRadar
Marc McLaren

NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Wednesday, August 21 (game #437)

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background.

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 #437) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • BALLOON
  • BAR
  • CAKE
  • FIZZ
  • PIE
  • BUBBLE
  • TIRE
  • COAT
  • SLING
  • SMEAR
  • PUNCH
  • LINE
  • FLOATIE
  • SOUR
  • PLASTER
  • BASKETBALL

NYT Connections today (game #437) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • Yellow: Slap it on top
  • Green: Pump it up
  • Blue: Data displays
  • Purple: Alcoholic mixes

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 #437) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: COVER WITH A THICK LAYER
  • GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE INFLATED BALLOON, BASKETBALL, FLOATIE, TIRE
  • BLUE: KINDS OF CHARTS
  • PURPLE: CLASSIC COCKTAIL TYPES FIZZ, PUNCH, SLING, SOUR

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #437) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #437, are…

  • YELLOW: COVER WITH A THICK LAYER CAKE, COAT, PLASTER, SMEAR
  • GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE INFLATED BALLOON, BASKETBALL, FLOATIE, TIRE
  • BLUE: KINDS OF CHARTS BAR, BUBBLE, LINE, PIE
  • PURPLE: CLASSIC COCKTAIL TYPES FIZZ, PUNCH, SLING, SOUR

  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: Fail

This was, rather shamefully, a second Connections fail in only a couple of days for me. It is a difficult one, I think, but not impossible.

That said, I feel I was at a disadvantage compared to some people. FLOATIE is not a term I've ever heard used before, and I think that might be a popular term in the US that isn't used in the UK, where I'm from. Plus, TIRE is spelled TYRE in the UK, so I only saw that as 'getting tired' rather than 'the thing that goes on wheels) and didn't think for it to go with other inflatables.

But even so, I should have solved this, especially given that I did get the blue group, but this was obviously another off day for me. Hope it was better for you.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 20 August, game #436)

  • YELLOW: RUSH OF WIND BLOW, DRAFT, GUST, PUFF
  • GREEN: ROTATE CRANK, REEL, TURN, WIND
  • BLUE: ZODIAC SYMBOLS BULL, CRAB, LION, RAM
  • PURPLE: DR. SEUSS TITLE FIGURES CAT, GRINCH, POP, TURTLE

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.

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