Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before we get to today’s Connections hints and answers, here are Sunday’s:
Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the start of a new week! I’m delighted to be back with you for another Monday-Friday run of this here column.
Perhaps you know the drill by now (and if not, welcome!). I like to kick off the Monday editions of this column with a fun, upbeat song that will hopefully at least get your toes tapping and a broader smile on your face.
I had two in mind for today and couldn’t decide which to go with, so I figured I’d just use them both and slide the second into the daily, column-ending recommendation slot.
I don’t know why this got in my head, but “I’m in the Mood for Dancing” by The Nolans is a pretty great disco song:
Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to hang out with us.
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Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at the comments or Twitter much. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, August 18 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’s 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 our hints 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…
- CUE
- STOP
- BREAKFAST
- SHOT
- POOL
- PROMPT
- PARKING
- CHANCE
- WI-FI
- DIGITAL
- OPENING
- WRIST
- NOD
- BREAK
- SIGNAL
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — just need one of these and I’m good to go
- 🟩 Green group — the kind of thing Alexander Hamilton refused to throw away, according to Lin-Manuel Miranda
- 🟦 Blue group — contrary to popular belief, certain star ratings reflect how many of these there are at a given place, rather than the quality of the establishment
- 🟪 Purple group — night, apple and black would fit in here
One Word For Each Connections Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one word for each group.
Today’s Connections word hints are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — NOD
- 🟩 Green group — SHOT
- 🟦 Blue group — POOL
- 🟪 Purple group — STOP
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — indication
- 🟩 Green group — opportunity
- 🟦 Blue group — hotel amenities
- 🟪 Purple group — words before “watch”
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 — indication (CUE, NOD, PROMPT, SIGNAL)
- 🟩 Green group — opportunity (BREAK, CHANCE, OPENING, SHOT)
- 🟦 Blue group — hotel amenities (BREAKFAST, PARKING, POOL, WI-FI)
- 🟪 Purple group — words before “watch” (DIGITAL, POCKET, STOP, WRIST)
POOL gave me pause when it came to guessing a group of CUE, SHOT, POCKET and BREAK. That made the pool/billiards-related group seem like a red herring. Sure enough, I realized that CUE went with NOD, PROMPT and SIGNAL, and that got me the yellows.
The “watch” words were straightforward too. A little surprised those were the purples! My grandfather was in the Black Watch, so this felt like a nice little opportunity to tip my hat to him with the hint.
Anyway, at that point the blues became clear (I wasn’t kidding with that hint). The greens were evident too.
I’m starting to think the NYT is going a little easy on us before tomorrow, which is game #800. I’m nervously anticipating that one. Anyway, my streak is now up to 171. Here’s my grid for today:
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
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 Tuesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. Y’know, I’ve been doing this column (or a variant of it) every day for two wonderful, life-changing years. And somehow I have yet to recommend this all-time classic. I truly hope it gets you grooving right now:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.
