Looking for a different day?
A new NEW Connections puzzle pops up at midnight every day for your time zone – meaning some people are always playing “today’s game” while others are playing “yesterday’s”. If you’re looking for the Sunday puzzle instead then click here: NEW Connections Hints and Answers for Sunday, February 15 (Game #980).
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers into different categories. It can be difficult, so read on if you need Connections tips.
SPOILER ALERT: Today’s NYT Connections information is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NEW Connections today (game #981) – word of the day
Today’s NEW Connections word is…
- BUCK
- SCREAM
- DO
- LAUGH
- FAWN
- DIE
- FLIGHT
- SQUAWK
- THOUSAND
- FIGHT
- RIOT
- DOUGH
- FREEZE
- TILE
- DOH
- CLICK
NEW Connections today (game #981) – tip #1 – group tip
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Very funny
- GREEN: All sound the same
- BLUE: Chicken sounds
- PURPLE: Strong reactions
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…
NEW Connections today (game #981) – tip #2 – group answer
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: KNEE BRACKET
- GREEN: HOMOPHONES
- BLUE: SOUNDS OF A CHICKEN LEAVING
- PURPLE: STRESS RESPONSE
Okay, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NEW Connections today (game #981) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #981, are…
- YELLOW: KNEE BRACKET LISTE, LAUGH, PROCEDURE, SCREAM
- GREEN: HOMOPHONES DO, DOE, DOH, Dough
- BLUE: SOUNDS OF A CHICKEN LEAVING BUCK, CACK, CLUCK, SQUAWK
- PURPLE: STRESS RESPONSE FAWN, FIGHT, FLY, FREEZE
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 3 errors
Despite the minor thrill of getting the answers on the perfect difficulty, I found this game really annoying.
Maybe I shouldn’t have started by singing “Doe a deer, a female deer” and thus caught myself making a group of words that I in my ignorance thought were about animals – DOE, FAWN, BUCK and HOOT (that’s what you call an owl, right?).
I redirected and made another mistake before I got KNEE SLAPPER when I had CACKLE instead of RIOT (I thought they were all exclamation points).
My bad run didn’t end there though, as I had FAWN instead of BUCK in the group that became SOUNDS A CHICKEN MAKES. Honestly, a chicken would have done a better job in today’s game than I did.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections Answers (Sunday, February 15th, Game #980)
- YELLOW: REFERENCE BOOKS ATLAS, DICTIONARY, ENCYCLOPEDIA, THESAURUS
- GREEN: SOMETHING THAT BRINGS BACK MEMORIES ECHO, REMINDER, TRACE, VESTIGE
- BLUE: FORM OF COMPLEXES ELEKTRA, MIGHTYNESS, OEDIPUS, SUPERIORITY
- PURPLE: STARTS WITH WAYS TO REACH SOMEONE BY PHONE BUZZARD, CALLIOPE, DIALECT, RINGMASTER
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games created by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four elements that share something in common, and each group has a different degree of difficulty: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough, and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you technically don’t need to solve the last one, as you’ll be able to answer it by a process of elimination. Also, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a bit more involved than something like Wordle, though, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to let you beat yourself up with tricks. For example, watch out for homophones and other puns that can hide the answers.
It can be played for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
