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 Friday’s puzzle instead then click here: NEW Connections Hints and Answers for Friday, February 20 (Game #985).
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 #986) – word of the day
Today’s NEW Connections word is…
- LATE
- GREAT
- PAST
- LIFE
- PRESENT
- MINION
- INFINITIVE
- PERFECT
- SOLID
- DODGERS
- EXCUSED
- BACKGROUND
- ABSENT
- REVISIONS
- HISTORY
- PHEW
NEW Connections today (game #986) – tip #1 – group tip
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Inheritance
- GREEN: Brands in a register
- BLUE: Encouragement after completing this game
- PURPLE: Starting with cars
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 #986) – tip #2 – group answer
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: EXPERIENCE
- GREEN: PARTICIPATION STATUS
- BLUE: COMMENT ON YOUR CONNECTION RESULTS
- PURPLE: CAR MARKS PLUS TWO LETTERS
Okay, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NEW Connections today (game #986) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #986, are…
- YELLOW: EXPERIENCE BACKGROUND, HISTORY, LIFE, PAST
- GREEN: PARTICIPATION STATUS ABSENT, EXCUSED, LATE, PRESENT
- BLUE: COMMENT ON YOUR CONNECTION RESULTS AWESOME, PERFECT, PHEW, SOLID
- PURPLE: CAR MARKS PLUS TWO LETTERS REVISIONS, DODGERS, INFINITIVE, MINION
- My assessment: Easy
- My score: Perfect
I’ll be honest, even though I’ve played over 900 games of Connections, the only COMMENT ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION RESULTS I’ve ever noticed is PHEW.
So instead of thinking today’s blue group was about Connections, I actually thought the link was “half-hearted encouraging remarks you’d make to yourself”. Fortunately, the joy of Connections is that you don’t really need to know anything to get a group right.
EXPERIENCE helped me get today’s green group when I had a few months working as an exam invigilator, which involved keeping a record of ATTENDANCE STATUS, a useful opening in a game that I now know was PERFECT.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections Answers (Friday, February 20, Game #985)
- YELLOW: FAST DIRECTION EASY ANSWER, MAGIC PIPE, PANACEA, SILVER BULL
- GREEN: CONNECTION TO THE MOON ECLIPSE, GREEN CHEESE, TIDE, WEREWOLF
- BLUE: ORIGINAL MONOPOLY BOOT, IRON, FINGER BING, HAT
- PURPLE: WHAT “JACK” MAY REFER TO CHEESE, DONKEY, PLAYING CARDS, JACKETS
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.
