Looking for Wednesday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey, folks! I hope you’re having a great week so far.
I’m not sure about you, but it feels a little like time is frozen at the minute. Sure, I have things I’m looking forward to in the coming weeks, but one day just seems to bleed into the next right now. I don’t feel down per se (as tempted as I am to call this feeling the “February blues”). I’m just waiting for something to happen – or at least some inspiration to push me to shake things up a bit.
Before we begin, I’ve learned that Connections answers are starting to show up in AI search results, potentially spoiling the game for people who are looking for hints. That absolutely sucks, and I’m sorry if the game has been spoiled for you as a result. I have three suggestions on how to avoid that:
- Bookmark my Forbes author page. My Connections hints and answers column is usually published between 2PM and 4PM ET the calendar date before each game. You’ll be able to find it there.
- If you hate the AI summaries on Google search results like I do, there’s a way around that, at least on Chrome and Firefox. It’s easy to set up, and you can find out how to do it here.
- Alternatively, you can use this website for AI-free Google Search.
Also, I’ve set up a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, February 20, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today’s 16 words are…
- ROOSTER
- UMBRELLA
- SLEEP
- STAR
- SOS
- SUNRISE
- STAY
- FLARE
- CIRCLE
- BUNK
- SIGNAL
- DEW
- ALARM
- TRIANGLE
- WORM
- CRASH
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — send a warning or call for urgent attention
- Green group — hey, the couch is free if you want it
- Blue group — these will be alien to many teenagers (and night owls like me)
- Purple group — dalgona options
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
- Yellow group — alert
- Green group — spend the night (at)
- Blue group — associated with early morning
- Purple group — cookie cutter shapes in Squid Game
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- Yellow group — alert (ALARM, FLARE, SIGNAL, SOS)
- Green group — spend the night (at) (BUNK, CRASH, SLEEP, STAY)
- Blue group — associated with early morning (DEW, ROOSTER, SUNRISE, WORM)
- Purple group — cookie cutter shapes in Squid Game (CIRCLE, STAR, TRAINGLE, UMBRELLA)
My fourth straight perfect game brings my overall winning streak up to 14 games. Here’s how I fared:
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
I had no real problems with this one. SOS was like a blinking light calling me to the yellows, so I was able to knock those out swiftly.
The purple words were up next. UMBRELLA stood out like a sore thumb, and when I saw the other three shapes, I smirked because I knew I had it. Probably helps that I watched season two of Squid Game just a few weeks ago, so the cookie cutter game in question was fresh in my mind.
It was academic from there. DEW, ROOSTER and SUNRISE all made sense together, and then WORM was the only remaining option that really fit with those (as in the expression “the early bird gets the worm”).
That left the green words for the win. That connection seemed obvious enough to me.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Friday’s game if you need them.
P.S. It’s really hard to beat a killer remix of a good song and The Postal Service’s take on “Mushaboom” is a great example. It completely revamps Feist’s indie pop track with the band’s electronica and Ben Gibbard’s vocals. It’s delightful:
In case you’re curious, here’s Feist’s original, which I also love:
I actually employed the remix in a presentation I had to give in a Film Art class in university. I used it and other tracks to show how different sounds can recontextualize images, specifically those in a silent nine-second short called Eye Myth by Stan Brakhage, a truly great experimental filmmaker. Yes, I was absolutely waffling nonsense, but I was able to back up my argument and explain why the juxtapositions impacted my interpretations. I got a decent grade for the presentation, so it worked out.
Anyway, here’s the film. It’s, uh, a little trippy:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
