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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 #983) – word of the day
Today’s NEW Connections word is…
- HEAVY
- CREST
- POOR
- FEATHER
- FLY
- TEASE
- BANTAM
- CURRENT
- CURLY
- SAD
- EVIL
- LEGHORN
- SHAVING
- CRIMP
- FREE ROW
- ADVICE
NEW Connections today (game #983) – tip #1 – group tip
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Old school barber techniques
- GREEN: Words for a wannabe Fonz
- BLUE: Types of birds
- PURPLE: Add a milky word
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 #983) – tip #2 – group answer
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: RETRO HARD DIRECTIVES
- GREEN: RETRO HOSE FOR COOL
- BLUE: CHICKEN DESCRIPTION
- PURPLE: ____ CREAM
Okay, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NEW Connections today (game #983) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #983, are…
- YELLOW: RETRO HARD DIRECTIVES CRIMP, CURLE, FEATHER, DRILL
- GREEN: RETRO HOSE FOR COOL BAD, FLY, RAD, EVIL
- BLUE: CHICKEN DESCRIPTION BANTAM, CREST, FREE HAND, LEGHORN
- PURPLE: ____ CREAM HEAVY, TOUCHING, ACCURATE, CURRENT
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 2 errors
After making a mistake connecting HEAVY, FLY, BANTAM and FEATHER, thinking they were all boxing weights, I decided BANTAM should apply to birds and got CHICKEN DESCRIPTION.
This wasn’t the end of my mistakes though, as I decided almost on the right track that BAD, RAD, HEAVY and SOUR were all old fashioned slang words for serious. As soon as I was wrong, I saw RETRO SLANG FOR COOL.
With only eight tiles left, RETRO HAIR DIRECTIVES was easier to spot, a good thing as I may have seen the connection between SHAVING and SOUR, but I missed HEAVY as it’s another example of differences between the US and the UK – in the UK heavy cream is commonly known as double cream.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections Answers (Tuesday, February 17th, Game #982)
- YELLOW: ZOOM DARTS, FLASH, SPEED, ZIP
- GREEN: SAUCES IN CHINESE CUISINE HOISIN, OYSTERS, PLUM, SOY
- BLUE: RIFLE (THROUGH) FLIP, LEAF, SKIM, THUMB
- PURPLE: STARTS WITH SYNONYMS FOR “DUD” BOMBAY, BUSTLE, FLOPPY, MISSUS
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.



