Looking for Sunday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey, everyone! Welcome to the start of a new week.
Many readers have told me they read this column just to find out how I got on with each game, even if they don’t need any hints on a given day. I deeply appreciate that! Thanks for stopping by. I get it, I’m always curious how other people work through each game too.
But writing out my thought process isn’t something I’ve always done. Whenever I was solving algebra equations or anything like that in high school, I’d just figure it out in my head and write down the answer. Teachers would penalize me for not writing out every step, but that always annoyed me. Writing everything out when I knew the answer just seemed like unnecessary work.
But hey, Connections is a fun game, and I really enjoy sharing how I solved (or didn’t!) each grid.
Before we begin, 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 Monday, February 3, 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…
- SNAP
- SCREW
- BURN
- ZEST
- LOUSE
- WEDGE
- ZING
- MITE
- SLICE
- MUCK
- BIT
- OUCH
- LITTLE
- TWIST
- FOUL
- TAD
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — oh, you got ’em good with that one!
- Green group — just a touch
- Blue group — a nice way to spruce up a drink
- Purple group — don’t make a mistake here!
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 — comment after an insult
- Green group — tiny amount, with “a”
- Blue group — bit of citrus garnish
- Purple group — bungle, with “up”
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 — comment after an insult (BURN, OUCH, SNAP, ZING)
- Green group — tiny amount, with “a” (BIT, LITTLE, MITE, TAD)
- Blue group — bit of citrus garnish (SLICE, TWIST, WEDGE, ZEST)
- Purple group — bungle, with “up” (FOUL, LOUSE, MUCK, SCREW)
No perfect game today, but my overall streak is up to 21 wins. Here’s how I fared:
🟦🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟨🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
I was on the right path with the greens, but included SLICE instead of MITE (which I initially thought would go with LOUSE, but that turned out to be a red herring). My second guess was close to the blues as well: SLICE, WEDGE, ZING and ZEST. That was also one away from a group.
From there, I was able to decode the greens, then the blues. The yellows then became clear. That was good for me, because I’m not sure I would have gotten the purples otherwise.
I have never once heard the expression “LOUSE up.” FOUL up, MUCK up and SCREW up, absolutely, I know all of those. LOUSE up seemed incredibly alien to me, though. I had to look it up and, sure enough, it’s in the dictionary. It turns out someone didn’t “f” up here, but “LOUSE up” a weird way to express that sentiment.
By the way, I just learned my new favorite insult – “your level of comprehension on this topic ended some time ago.” It seems like such a cutting, effective way of shutting up someone who has no idea what they’re talking about. I’ll give you that one for free.
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. Okay, I lied. I’m going to recommend two more house songs to wrap up this little dance theme week (or eight days). How could I possibly have drop in music from French house artists and not mention the greatest of all time, Daft Punk?
I’ve recommended a few versions of “One More Time” in the past, so I won’t do that again (tempted as I might be). Instead, let’s do with the also-sublime “Digital Love,” because we could all use a little extra love on a Monday:
Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk, was also one of the three members of Stardust, arguably the best one-hit wonder ever. “Music Sounds Better With You” is the only song Stardust ever released, and it’s just fantastic:
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.
