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 Monday:
Hey there, Connectors! I hope your week is off to a great start.
I have to admit, I haven’t been paying super close attention to Connections game numbers lately. This -50 edition snuck up on me. In the past, that’s meant some funkiness in the game, whether on a game number that ends in “50” or in the few following editions. So you might need to stay on your toes more than usual in the coming days (or today since I haven’t looked at today’s game yet). Good luck out there!
Before we start, we’ve got a lovely community on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of things. You’re more than welcome to join us!
Also, my weekend editions of this column are available over on my newsletter, Pastimes. I sometimes write about other things that are on my mind there as well.
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Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, August 4 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…
- CIGARETTE
- PEACE SIGN
- PIANO
- TAXI CAB
- CHEVRON
- UNICYCLE
- PIGEON
- POOL NOODLE
- SEWING MACHINE
- ANGLE BRACKET
- PRETZEL ROD
- BODEGA
- SUBWAY STATION
- FOAM ROLLER
- SWAN BOAT
- GOOSE FORMATION
A Hint For Today’s Connections Groups
The hints for today’s Connections categories are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — roll out the barrel (an extended one, in fact)
- 🟩 Green group — like a building with a spire that was originally used to tether blimps, a commercial area with many video billboards and a large green space in the middle
- 🟦 Blue group — put your best foot forward, then maybe the other one. Then perhaps the first one again
- 🟪 Purple group — like one of Lenny Kravitz’s favored tools, the Grand Canyon and a plunging neckline
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 — CIGARETTE
- 🟩 Green group — SUBWAY STATION
- 🟦 Blue group — SEWING MACHINE
- 🟪 Purple group — GOOSE FORMATION
Today’s Connections Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — long cylindrical things
- 🟩 Green group — iconic NYC sights
- 🟦 Blue group — things with pedals
- 🟪 Purple group — V-shaped things
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 — long cylindrical things (CIGARETTE, FOAM ROLLER, POOL NOODLE, PRETZEL ROD)
- 🟩 Green group — iconic NYC sights (BODEGA, PIGEON, SUBWAY STATION, TAXI CAB)
- 🟦 Blue group — things with pedals (PIANO, SEWING MACHINE, SWAN BOAT, UNICYCLE)
- 🟪 Purple group — V-shaped things (ANGLE BRACKET, CHEVRON, GOOSE FORMATION, PEACE SIGN)
I held my breath while opening today’s game since it was a -50 edition, but I flew through this one. As soon as I saw GOOSE FORMATION, I had the purples figured out. For some reason, I thought of The Mighty Ducks and their flying-V attack formation, even though I’ve only ever seen the third movie in that series. As soon as I spotted three other things that fit, I had that group locked in. (In case you’re wondering, a CHEVRON is a symbol shaped like this: ^)
The long rolly things were up next thanks to POOL NOODLE and FOAM ROLLER. Then BODEGA and SUBWAY STATION helped make the greens sort of clear. I guessed SWAN BOAT instead of PIGEON first, since I thought they were a thing you can go on in a Central Park pond. I swiftly realized my error and got the green group.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t even think about what the blue category might be. I just instantly submitted it when there were only four options remaining. That extended my streak to 520 wins.
How did you get on this time? Here’s my grid:
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
I’m a little pressed for time, so no separate Answers Explained column today. Sorry. The category titles largely handle things for us anyway, I think, and I didn’t see a glaring red herring.
Be sure to check my blog for hints and the answer for tomorrow’s game of Connections if you need them.
P.S. This popped up in my YouTube recommendations and I enjoyed it very much. Metallica played shows in Dublin last month, and of course they had to bust out their version of “Whiskey in the Jar.” I love how the crowd sings along, including with the riff:
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.
