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 Thursday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, August 21 (game #802).

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 #803) – today’s words

NYT Connections hints for game 803 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

  • LAS VEGAS
  • STRIP
  • AMY
  • ADAMS
  • TOM CRUISE
  • WASHINGTON
  • PRIVATE RYAN
  • CHRISTOPH
  • WALTZ
  • JOHN
  • MALKOVICH
  • STUD
  • GEOFFREY
  • RUSH
  • FORD
  • ОМАНА
  • GRANT
  • DRAW
  • CHEVY CHASE

NYT Connections today (game #803) – hint #1 – group hints

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

  • YELLOW: Four of the 45
  • GREEN: Action surnames
  • BLUE: Place your bets 
  • PURPLE: Film names featuring verbs as nouns 

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 #803) – hint #2 – group answers

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

  • YELLOW: U.S. PRESIDENTS 
  • GREEN: ACTORS WHOSE LAST NAMES ARE ALSO VERBS 
  • BLUE: KINDS OF POKER 
  • PURPLE: PROPER NOUNS AFTER GERUNDS IN ’90S MOVIE TITLES 

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

NYT Connections today (game #803) – the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 803 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #803, are…

  • YELLOW: U.S. PRESIDENTS ADAMS, FORD, GRANT, WASHINGTON
  • GREEN: ACTORS WHOSE LAST NAMES ARE ALSO VERBS CHEVY CHASE, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, GEOFFREY RUSH, TOM CRUISE
  • BLUE: KINDS OF POKER DRAW, OMAHA, STRIP, STUD
  • PURPLE: PROPER NOUNS AFTER GERUNDS IN ’90S MOVIE TITLES AMY, JOHN MALKOVICH, LAS VEGAS, PRIVATE RYAN
  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 2 mistakes

Today’s purple group is one of those that will have people scratching their heads after the answer is revealed.

I had to do some Googling afterwards to learn that a gerund is a verb with an -ing ending that functions like a noun – like “saving’ for PRIVATE RYAN, “being” for JOHN MALKOVICH,  “leaving” for LAS VEGAS and “chasing” for AMY.

Thankfully, I’d already completed today’s puzzle, but not without several mistakes. The first was that AMY and WASHINGTON were linked by Whitehouse/White House along with STUD (surely there has to be White House stud farm) and LAS VEGAS (I was mistakenly thinking of the Little White Chapel).

I also put together the four actors who I guessed had won Oscars – I left CHEVY CHASE out of that group – before stopping and seeing the common link in their surnames.

Messy, but I got there in the end.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Thursday, August 21, game #802)

  • YELLOW: BLUNDER BOO-BOO, FLUB, GAFFE, NO-NO
  • GREEN: LANDS OF THE IMAGINATION DREAM, FANTASY, LA-LA, NEVER NEVER
  • BLUE: THINGS WITH ANTENNA/E INSECT, RADIO TOWER, SATELLITE DISH, TELETUBBY
  • PURPLE: ____ DOODLE CHEESE, DIPSY, GOOGLE, YANKEE

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.