Good morning! Today, we're diving into NYT's Connections, a word game that tests your ability to group answers into various categories. It can be quite challenging, but don't worry if you need some clues. We've got you covered!

Your Connections Expert

Marc McLaren, the global editor in chief, is here to guide you through today's game.

NYT Connections today (game #540) – today’s words

TRUMPETCROQUETCROCODILEPAPERALLIGATORHAIRWHAC-A-MOLEHERALDPOLO PLAYERBROADCASTLAURELXYLOPHONECARPENTRYVIDEOSWOOSHDECLARE

NYT Connections today (game #540) – hint #1 – group hints

Yellow: Something related to telling others.Green: Another aspect related to tent-pitching.Blue: Something close to your chest.Purple: A blank [thing that holds other things together].

NYT Connections today (game #540) – hint #2 – group answers

YELLOW: ANNOUNCEGREEN: THINGS INVOLVING MALLETSBLUE: ICON EMBROIDERED ON A POLO SHIRTPURPLE: ___ CLIP

NYT Connections today (game #540) – the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #540, are…YELLOW: ANNOUNCE BROADCAST, DECLARE, HERALD, TRUMPETGREEN: THINGS INVOLVING MALLETS CARPENTRY, CROQUET, WHAC-A-MOLE, XYLOPHONEBLUE: ICON EMBROIDERED ON A POLO SHIRT CROCODILE, LAUREL, POLO PLAYER, SWOOSHPURPLE: ___ CLIP ALLIGATOR, HAIR, PAPER, VIDEOMy rating: ModerateMy score: 2 mistakesI had a bit of a struggle with a couple of groups today. For example, with the green group, I initially thought it could be things you hit with a hammer or needed a hammer for. CROQUET, WHAC-A-MOLE, POLO PLAYER, XYLOPHONE, and CARPENTRY all seemed to fit. But I had too many options, so after some internal debate, I decided that you don't use a hammer to hit a polo player (unless you're a very bad person). If it was 'Things which involve you hitting something with a hammer', it might be XYLOPHONE and WHAC-A-MOLE and CARPENTRY and CROQUET. I went with that in the end and it was correct. Well, mostly - the actual answer was THINGS INVOLVING MALLETS.Similarly, with the blue group, I had something to do with logos in mind. I put ALLIGATOR instead of CROCODILE, so I lost a couple of guesses there. Clearing up the yellow group first helped, as it removed more answers and left me with ICON EMBROIDERED ON A POLO SHIRT, with CROCODILE, LAUREL, POLO PLAYER, and SWOOSH - but no alligator.That alligator actually featured in the purple group, which I would have got even if I hadn't solved it by default. The fairly straightforward ___ CLIP was the solution here.How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 1 December, game #539)

YELLOW: SANCTUARY HAVEN, PORT, RETREAT, SHELTERGREEN FOOTBALL GEAR CLEATS, HELMET, JERSEY, PADSBLUE: CANDY NAMES CHARMS, KINDER, WONKA, YORKPURPLE: “FREE ___” BIRD, FALLIN’, SOLO, WILLY

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several highly popular word games created by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share a common trait. Each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a bit harder, blue often quite tough, and purple usually very difficult.On the plus side, you don't actually need to solve the final group. You can answer it by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, giving you some leeway.It's a bit more complex than a game like Wordle and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to catch you off guard with tricks. For instance, be careful of homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.