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, March 8 (Game #1001).
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 #1002) – word of the day
Today’s NEW Connections word is…
- CUP
- VIDEO GAMES
- WEREWOLF
- MICROSCOPE
- MAFIA
- WAREHOUSE
- FISH BOWLS
- ANIMAL
- SPOTLIGHT
- COMPANY
- GONZO
- BEARLY
- E STREET BAND
- HEATED SEAT
- THEREFORE
- FOZZIE
NEW Connections today (game #1002) – tip #1 – group tip
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Where are you, where?
- GREEN: Are you looking at me?
- BLUE: It’s time to play the music, it’s time to turn on the lights…
- PURPLE: Who is responsible?
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 #1002) – tip #2 – group answer
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: STARTS WITH THE SAME SOUND, SPELLED DIFFERENTLY
- GREEN: METAPHORS FOR PUBLIC CONTROL
- BLUE: MUPPER
- PURPLE: THEY HAVE A BOSS
Okay, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NEW Connections today (game #1002) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #1002, are…
- YELLOW: STARTS WITH THE SAME SOUND, SPELLED DIFFERENTLY WAREHOUSE, BEARED, WEREWOLF, THEREFORE
- GREEN: METAPHORS FOR PUBLIC CONTROL FISHBOWL, HOT SEAT, MICROSCOPE, SPOTLIGHT
- BLUE: MUPPER ANIMAL, CUP, FOZZIE, GONZO
- PURPLE: THEY HAVE A BOSS COMPANY, E STREET BAND, MAFIA, VIDEO GAMES
- My assessment: Moderate
- My score: 1 error
The second I saw E Street Band among the responses today, I knew I had to play it first. I’m a massive Bruce Springsteen fan – he’s by far the best live performer I’ve ever seen – and the legendary E Street Band is very much a part of that. The obvious connection was ‘boss’ (because of course Springsteen is ‘The Boss’) and it fit well with MAFIA, HOT SEAT and COMPANY as things that all have a boss. But that was wrong. Just ‘one away’, but still wrong.
Rather than risk another mistake, I looked elsewhere and realized that there were four Muppets on the board: FOZZIE, GONZO, ANIMAL, and BEAKER. I don’t love the Muppets quite as much as the E Street Band, but there’s not much to it; ANIMAL would actually be a good addition to it.
I was surprised to see that it was the blue group as it was quite easy so I was confident that I would now be able to solve them all. Sounding out the remaining words gave me yellow, STARTING WITH THE SAME SOUND, SPELLED DIFFERENTLY.
Next I saw that FISHBOWL, SPOTLIGHT, MICROSCOPE and HOT SEAT all seemed to go together as ‘being the focus of something’. They were – the actual answer was METAPHONES FOR PUBLIC INQUIRY – but I didn’t guess yet because I wanted to solve the E Street Band.
Instead, I looked again at the other four words that have to go together, namely MAFIA, E STREET BAND, VIDEO GAME and COMPANY and realized that VIDEO GAMES also often have a boss (as in ‘boss fight’) then guessed and turned purple. And now I go and listen to The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle for the 1 billionth time!
Yesterday’s NEW Connections Answers (Sunday, March 8, Game #1001)
- YELLOW: CITIES LIMA, NICE, OSAKA, PHOENIX
- GREEN: PALINDROMES EYE, REFER, ROTATOR, SELLER
- BLUE: HORROR MINUS “S” GREMLIN, JAW, SINNER, TREMOR
- PURPLE: STARTS WITH HOSE TO ZERO JACKET, CRADLE, SQUATTER, ZIPPER
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.
