Hey there! I trust your week is off to a wonderful start. As I peruse the list of games I aim to play before compiling my annual Games of the Year list, it's becoming quite a challenge. It might be time to start pruning some titles from the list that I'm less certain about getting to – perhaps focusing more on actually playing rather than getting lost in endless social media distractions. I truly need to make my way through Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and a few other gems on Game Pass before my subscription expires next week.

How To Play Connections

Connections is a fabulous, widely loved New York Times daily word game. Every day at midnight, a new puzzle awaits. You can enjoy it on the NYT website or through the Games app.You're presented with a grid of 16 words. Your mission is to group them into four sets of four by uncovering the connections between them. These groups could be related to items you can click, names for research study participants, or words preceded by a body part.There's only one correct solution for each puzzle, and you need to be cautious as some words might fit into multiple categories. You can shuffle the words to assist in spotting the links.Each group is color-coded. The yellow group is typically the easiest to figure out, followed by the blue and green groups in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most challenging. The purple group often involves wordplay.Select four words you think belong together and click Submit. If your guess is incorrect, you'll lose a life. If you're close to having a correct group, you might receive a message indicating that you're one word away from getting it right, but you still need to determine which word to swap.If you make four mistakes, the game is over. Let's avoid that with the help of some hints and, if needed, today's Connections answers. Just like with Wordle and other similar games, it's easy to share your results with friends on social media and group chats.If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any that you may have missed.Aside from the first 60 games or so, you can find my hints for each grid via Google by simply clicking here and adding the date of the game for which you need clues or 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…FOCUSFACEFIELDJEOPARDYRIBBONPINWHEELEARPASSWORDAGENTCONCENTRATIONFINGERPRINTSTANDARDELBOWSPECIALTYDRIBBLEAnd the hints for today's Connections groups are:Yellow group – a key area of study or interest.Green group – how you likely gained access to the device you're using now.Blue group – different types of dough-based items.Purple group – a word that could be related to "trouble" or "dip".

What Are Today's Connections Groups?

Need some extra assistance?Be warned: we're entering spoiler territory.Today's Connections groups are…Yellow group – a specific area of expertise.Green group – methods to unlock a device.Blue group – various pasta shapes.Purple group – a double something.

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 – area of expertise (CONCENTRATION, FIELD, FOCUS, SPECIALTY)Green group – ways to unlock a device (FACE, FINGERPRINT, PASSWORD, PIN)Blue group – pasta shapes (EAR, ELBOW, RIBBON, WHEEL)Purple group – double _____ (AGENT, DRIBBLE, JEOPARDY, STANDARD)No perfect game, but today's game marks a threepeat. A new streak is underway! Here's how I did:Alas, JEOPARDY, WHEEL, PASSWORD and CONCENTRATION did not form a group. Nor was I one word away from a collective of game shows.I then attempted a guess of PASSWORD, FACE, FINGERPRINT and EAR in terms of authentication methods. I was aware that ears are unique and can be used for verification purposes, but I was one word away from a correct group. Of course, PIN was the missing fourth word to give me the greens.The yellows, in hindsight, were quite evident and I got those next. Then, I got a bit lucky with the blues. I figured WHEEL was a reference to the knee and RIBBON was the only other thing that somewhat made sense as a term for a joint. At least I figured out the purple connection before securing the win.That's all there is to it for today's Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog for hints and the solution for Wednesday's game if you need them.P.S. One of my dream bands that I adored as a kid and still (realistically) haven't seen live is Deftones. Those first few albums were exceptional, and I don't think I've ever heard a bad song from them.They're not visiting my city on their early 2025 tour, unfortunately, and I have a lot of other shows close to home around that time, so I probably won't travel to see them this time. Nevertheless, I'm going to be enjoying their timeless, melodic, experimental metal all day:If you're inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games, as well as some video game news, insights and analysis. It means a lot to me!