Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections hints, here’s what you missed on Tuesday:
It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means: it’s time for another game of Connections!
Over the weekend, I went to a major pro wrestling show. I had a good time, except for having to get up on my feet every few minutes because the people in front of me kept standing. That was annoying. Fans persistently yelling inane things grew tiresome as well.
The evening flew by. It really didn’t feel like a 5.5-hour show. But I might be done with going to live wrestling.
I’ve been to 10 or so shows, and have generally enjoyed them. However, I think I prefer watching them on TV. I’m not watching a whole lot of wrestling these days anyway, outside of All Elite Wrestling’s pay-per-views (which always deliver) and some clips. But I can’t see myself going back to a live event anytime soon.
Before we start, I want to highlight the rad community we have on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a lovely group of folks. You’re more than welcome to join us.
Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes
Also, my weekend editions of this column are available over on my newsletter, Pastimes. If you enjoy the intros and recommendations in my Connections columns, I occasionally publish longer pieces along similar lines there as well. I think you’d dig them.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
Today’s NYT Connections Word List
Scroll slowly!
After today’s Connections word list, I’ll give you a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll reveal the categories, followed by the full answers.
Got it? Cool.
Today’s 16 words are…
- CORK
- PEARL
- BASIC
- STAPLE
- MID
- WORD
- CHALK
- WHITE
- BLACK
- VANILLA
- GEM
- NAIL
- RIVET
- NUGGET
- SCREW
- PLAIN
A Hint For Today’s Connections Groups
The hints for today’s Connections categories are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — they really bring a room together
- 🟩 Green group — just kinda there
- 🟦 Blue group — whisper them and let it be
- 🟪 Purple group — they can help one deliver information
One Answer For Each Connections Group
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
- 🟨 Yellow group — SCREW
- 🟩 Green group — VANILLA
- 🟦 Blue group — NUGGET
- 🟪 Purple group — WHITE
Today’s Connections Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — fasteners
- 🟩 Green group — nondescript
- 🟦 Blue group — units of wisdom
- 🟪 Purple group — _____boards in a classroom
What Is Today’s Connections Answer?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — fasteners (NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE)
- 🟩 Green group — nondescript (BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA)
- 🟦 Blue group — units of wisdom (GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD)
- 🟪 Purple group — _____boards in a classroom (BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE)
I knocked out the yellows first, in large part because it was the only group that made sense out of the gate. That pushed BASIC and PLAIN next to each other, with helped me get the greens.
The blues then made sense. We had a pretty similar concept recently when we had a group of words that could all reference PEARL.
CORK and CHALK then made the purples clear. Didn’t really love this one. Still, I’m happy to extend my streak to 514 wins with a regular rainbow. Hey, that’s one of the area codes for my part of the world!
How did you get on this time? Here’s my grid:
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
I didn’t see a red herring and the category titles mostly handle things for us, so I’m going to skip the Answers Explained column again today. I will note that MID is a slang adjective that means “average” or “mediocre.”
Be sure to check my blog for hints and the answer for tomorrow’s game of Connections if you need them.
P.S. After today’s blue hint, of course today’s recommendation has to be “Let It Be” by The Beatles. Don’t tell anyone, but I like more Beatles songs than I often let on:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. I’d really appreciate that as it helps me out. If you share this column with others who play Connections, that would be lovely too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column and more of my writing at my newsletter, Pastimes.
