Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Tuesday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, August 19 (game #800).

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #801) – today’s words

NYT Connections hints for game 801 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

  • CANDY CANE
  • CAROUSEL
  • CEILING FAN
  • CROOK
  • ZEBRA
  • KNITTING NEEDLES
  • CROCHET HOOK 
  • BARBER POLE
  • YIN-YANG SYMBOL
  • CROWBAR
  • PIANO KEYS
  • CHOPSTICKS
  • CLAVES
  • DOMINO
  • SKI POLES
  • LAZY SUSAN

NYT Connections today (game #801) – hint #1 – group hints

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: Monochrome items
  • GREEN: Two of a kind
  • BLUE: Staring at these will make you dizzy
  • PURPLE: Bend at the end 

Need more clues?

We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #801) – hint #2 – group answers

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: BLACK-AND-WHITE THINGS
  • GREEN: PAIRS OF RODS
  • BLUE: THINGS THAT ROTATE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS 
  • PURPLE: RODS THAT CURVE AT ONE END

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #801) – the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 801 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #801, are…

  • YELLOW: BLACK-AND-WHITE THINGS DOMINO, PIANO KEYS, YIN-YANG SYMBOL, ZEBRA
  • GREEN: PAIRS OF RODS CHOPSTICKS, CLAVES, KNITTING NEEDLES, SKI POLES
  • BLUE: THINGS THAT ROTATE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS BARBER POLE, CAROUSEL, CEILING FAN, LAZY SUSAN
  • PURPLE: RODS THAT CURVE AT ONE END CANDY CANE, CROCHET HOOK, CROOK, CROWBAR
  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 1 mistake

Occasionally, Connections throw us a curveball – and today was one of those days, with 16 tiles of random items from a BARBER POLE to YIN-YANG SYMBOL.

As is often the case with these kinds of Connections I suffered temporary word blindness and failed to see a single link.

My mistake was putting together KNITTING NEEDLES and CROCHET HOOK with CHOPSTICKS and CANDY CANE, my thinking being they are all kinds of sticks.

Taking a deep breath I began to see some more promising patterns and got THINGS THAT ROTATE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS mainly because of LAZY SUSAN, an object I love as it sounds like such an insulting thing to call a revolving plate.

Magically, what was once confusing all made sense, a glorious feeling of enlightenment that is one of the biggest joys of Connections.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, August 19, game #800)

  • YELLOW: QUITE THE TALKER BLABBERMOUTH, CHATTERBOX, PRATTLER, WINDBAG
  • GREEN: FORTIFIED WINES MARSALA, PORT, SHERRY, VERMOUTH
  • BLUE: ___ ROCK CLASSIC, LITTLE, PLYMOUTH, THE
  • PURPLE: STARTING WITH WAYS TO MOVE QUICKLY DARTMOUTH, DASHBOARD, FLYWHEEL, RUSHMORE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.