If you’re anything like me, the day is not complete until I complete all of the free word games from the New York Times. Working on the daily Connections, Wordle and Strands is a whole ritual for many of us. And we can’t forget about the NYT’s The Mini Crossword, too!
Although the NYT is known for “The Crossword,” a larger puzzle for paid subscribers, The Mini has quite the fan-following as well.
If you’re working on today’s Mini on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, and need some help (I’ve been there), get ready to read the clues and solutions for each line. We have them separated into hints first for both “Across” and “Down” words, followed by “Across Answers” and “Down Answers,” so be careful if you want to avoid spoilers as you scroll!
Hints for NYT’s The Mini Crossword on Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Here are additional clues for each of the words in today’s Mini Crossword.
NYT Mini Across Hints
1 Across: Magic accessory for Gandalf the Grey — HINT: It starts with the letter “S” 6 Across: Item often cut with a pocket-sized guillotine cutter — HINT: It ends with the letter “R” 7 Across: Fill with awe — HINT: It starts with the letter “A” 8 Across: Flood stopper — HINT: It ends with the letter “E” 9 Across: Word repeated in “Any _____ is good _____” — HINT: It starts with the letter “P”
NYT Mini Down Hints
1 Down: Top of the head — HINT: It ends with the letter “P”
2 Down: Track meet official — HINT: It starts with the letter “T”
3 Down: Plant used to make tequila — HINT: It ends with the letter “E”
4 Down: Flusters — HINT: It starts with the letter “F” 5 Down: Saves from jail in Capture the Flag, say — HINT: It ends with the letter “S”
Answers to NYT’s The Mini Crossword for Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Don’t go any further unless you want to know exactly what the correct words are in today’s Mini Crossword.
NYT Mini Across Answers
1 Across: Magic accessory for Gandalf the Grey — STAFF
6 Across: Item often cut with a pocket-sized guillotine cutter — CIGAR
7 Across: Fill with awe — AMAZE
8 Across: Flood stopper — LEVEE
9 Across: Words repeated in “Any _____ is good _____” — PRESS
NYT Mini Down Answers
1 Down: Top of the head — SCALP
2 Down: Track meet official — TIMER
3 Down: Plant used to make tequila — AGAVE
4 Down: Flusters — FAZES
5 Down: Saves from jail in Capture the Flag, say — FREES
That’s it! How quickly were you able to complete today’s Mini?!
Looking for the answers and hints for today’s New York Times Mini Crossword puzzle? Look no further! Here are the solutions for the clues in today’s puzzle:
1. Hint: “___ of the above” – Answer: NONE
2. Hint: “___ Moines, Iowa” – Answer: DES
3. Hint: “Paper size that’s slightly larger than letter” – Answer: LEGAL
4. Hint: “___-in (early protest movement)” – Answer: SIT
5. Hint: “Type of beer that’s often hoppy” – Answer: IPA
Happy puzzling!
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Connections: Sports Edition is a new version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Connections: How to play and how to win
Here are today’s Connections Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
Avoid a punch, in boxing – BOB AND WEAVE, CLINCH, DUCK, SLIP
Ways to describe a baseball catch – BASKET, SHOESTRING, SNOW CONE, WEB GEM
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Hints and answers for NYT Connections Sports Edition January 27: Tips to solve Connections #126
Hints:
1. This week’s Connections puzzle features famous sports figures from various disciplines.
2. Look for common themes or connections between the given names to help solve the puzzle.
3. Pay attention to details such as team affiliations, championships won, or notable achievements.
Answers:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Serena Williams
3. Tom Brady
4. Wayne Gretzky
5. Tiger Woods
Can you find the connections between these iconic sports stars? Share your thoughts in the comments below! #NYTConnections #SportsEdition
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NYT Connections Sports Edition, Connections #126, January 27 hints, January 27 answers, Connections puzzle tips, solve Connections puzzle, sports themed Connections puzzle, New York Times Connections puzzle, solve Connections January 27, NYT Connections hints and answers
Looking for clues for today’s Connections answers? The Connections answers on January 28 for puzzle #597 are a bit harder than yesterday’s puzzle, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle’s difficulty at 3.5 out of 5.
Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today’s answers so you can keep your Connections streak going. And if the clues aren’t enough, you’ll find all four answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words.
Plus, we’re including a reflection on Sunday’s puzzle, #595, in case you’re reading this in a different time zone.
Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #597. Only read on if you want to know today’s Connections answers.
Alternatively, visit our how to play NYT Connections guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.
Today’s Connections answer — hints to help you solve it
(Image credit: New York Times)
Unlike our guide to today’s Wordle answer, where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category’s difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you’ve made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.
Today’s Connections words are: Demon, Laugh, Joker, Airhead, Card, Band, Chess, Dumbbell, Snicker, Character, Mat, Mar, Bump, Mound, Dial, and Bench.
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If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:
Yellow: Funny person
Green: Resistance training equipment
Blue: Candy bars minus “S”
Purple: Speed ____
These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today’s Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.
Here’s a larger hint: Snag a candy bar after a workout with a funny friend and keep the speed up.
Today’s Connections answers
So, what are today’s Connections answers for game #597?
Drumroll, please…
Funny person: Card, character, joker, laugh
Resistance training equipment: Band, bench, dumbbell, mat
Candy bars minus “S”: Airhead, Mar, Mound Snicker
Speed ____: Bump, chess, demon, dial
My sweet tooth kicked off today’s puzzle for me as I saw Snicker and Mar and was thinking candy bars. Mound and Airhead were quick finds from there.
I saw band and dumbbell which made me think of the gym. Which made mat and bench easy spots for me.
I got a little stuck here because I wasn’t thinking funny but was focusing on Joker as a card. But I did see speed demon which opened up speed bump and speed dial. I briefly forgot about speed chess, but it was the only that made sense there for the purple grouping.
Which led to funny person with card, character, joker and laugh.
Yesterday’s Connections answers
Ways to get food: Farm, Fish, Gather, Hunt
Keep apart: Cloister, Seclude, Separate, Silo
Parts of a big rig: Axles, Hitch, Tractor, Trailer
Dance events plus a letter: Bally, Discog, Promo, Raven
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #595, which had a difficulty rating of 3 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion. We accidentally skipped Monday’s puzzle, apologies there. Back to normal Tuesday.
Dave went all kinds of out of order on this one. He got the blue category first, locking in the parts of a truck quickly and easily. From there, he picked up on Seclude, Separate and Silo as words that meant to keep something alone. Dave guessed Cloister, as it didn’t fit anywhere else, and he was right.
From there, Dave moved to Yellow, which was pretty evident as ways to get food. That only left him with purple, which was hard, and he probably would have never gotten it if it wasn’t for the process of elimination.
Are you ready for today’s NYT Connections challenge? Here are the hints and answers for Tuesday, January 28th (#597):
Hints:
1. This actor starred in “The Dark Knight” and “Inception”
2. This singer is known for hits like “Halo” and “Single Ladies”
Answers:
1. Christian Bale
2. Beyoncé
Good luck connecting the dots and solving today’s puzzle! #NYTConnections #TuesdayChallenge
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Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores.
A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes one answer in each of the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.
Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yellow: ACE
Green: TEN
Blue: TWO
Purple: JETER
The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic)
Are you a sports fanatic? Do you love solving puzzles? If so, then puzzle No. 127 in Connections: Sports Edition Coach is the perfect challenge for you!
Here are some hints and facts to help you solve this exciting sports-themed puzzle:
1. This puzzle features clues related to a wide range of sports, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and more. So brush up on your sports knowledge before diving in!
2. Look for connections between the clues to help you fill in the puzzle grid. For example, if one clue mentions a famous basketball player, see if you can find other clues related to basketball that might be connected.
3. Pay attention to any numbers or statistics mentioned in the clues. These could be crucial in helping you solve the puzzle.
4. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box! Sometimes the most unexpected connections lead to the correct answers.
So grab a pen, get ready to flex your brain muscles, and see if you can conquer puzzle No. 127 in Connections: Sports Edition Coach. Good luck!
Hey, everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start.
There are only a few more games until we get to the 600th edition of Connections. Is anyone else starting to get nervous about the prospect of having a fiendishly difficult, streak-busting grid on Friday? I certainly am.
Before we get going, I’ve started a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYTConnections hints and answers for Tuesday, January 28, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the 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…
DEMON
LAUGH
JOKER
AIRHEAD
CARD
BAND
CHESS
DUMBBELL
SNICKER
CHARACTER
MAT
MAR
BUMP
MOUND
DIAL
BENCH
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
Yellow group — they’re, like, hilarious
Green group — gym gear
Blue group — shortened sweets
Purple group — “racer” and “dating” would fit in here
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
Yellow group — funny person
Green group — resistance training equipment
Blue group — candy bars minus “s”
Purple group — speed ____
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 — funny person (CARD, CHARACTER, JOKER, LAUGH)
Green group — resistance training equipment (BAND, BENCH, DUMBBELL, MAT)
Blue group — candy bars minus “s” (AIRHEAD, MAR, MOUND, SNICKER)
Purple group — speed ____ (BUMP, CHESS, DEMON, DIAL)
A baker’s dozen of perfect games in a row extends my overall streak to 16 games. Here’s how I fared:
I’m ashamed to say it, but I broke a personal rule with today’s game.
SNICKER caught my attention immediately. When it became clear that and LAUGH were a red herring combo, it had to be a reference to the candy bar Snickers, minus the “S.” MAR was the only other word that obviously fit that description. I really didn’t know what else would go with those, since I am not overly familiar with American confectionary. AIRHEAD and MOUND seemed like the most likely candidates but, sigh, I had to look them up to be sure.
I generally don’t look up words when I’m playing Connections and am annoyed at myself for breaking this self-imposed restriction. However, I’m a firm believer in playing the game however you wish. I closed my Google tab after sealing the blues.
I thought those might have been the purple words, but no such luck and the dream of a reverse rainbow was over for another day. So I had no hesitation in submitting the greens once I spotted them.
After a few more moments of gazing at the grid, I had an “aha!” moment and deduced the purple words. A speed DEMON is just something that moves very fast (as well as a Marvel comic book villain and a Michael Jackson song). Does speed DIAL even technically exist anymore? I don’t know, I haven’t had a landline for nearly 15 years.
I suspect the yellows might be difficult for some folks. CARD is a very antiquated term for a funny person (I certainly didn’t make that link right away), and someone can certainly be called “a good LAUGH” but that may not be a common usage in many parts of the world. Still, I hope your streak stayed intact!
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Wednesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. Back in the day, when I used to go out pretty much every weekend, there’s a song that would always put a smile on one of my best friends’ faces whenever it came on at the club. It’s hard to argue that “Call On Me” by Eric Prydz isn’t catchy as heck. The official music video is probably too risqué for this publication (if you know, you know), so here’s a lyric video instead:
This samples a song by Steve Winwood called “Valerie.” Winwood was gracious enough to re-record his vocals for “Call On Me:”
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
Here are some hints and answers for Tuesday, January 28th:
1. Trivia question: What is the capital of Spain?
Answer: Madrid
2. Recipe suggestion: Try making a delicious chicken stir-fry with a mix of vegetables and soy sauce for dinner tonight.
3. Fitness tip: Incorporate some high-intensity interval training (HIIT) into your workout routine to burn more calories and increase your metabolism.
4. Movie recommendation: Check out the film “The Shape of Water” directed by Guillermo del Toro, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2018.
5. Quote of the day: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
Stay tuned for more hints and answers for tomorrow!
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Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today’s theme — “Viva Las Vegas” — isn’t too tough, as long as you’re familiar with the subject matter.
Below, we’ve compiled some useful hints for Strands #330, as well as the answers, should it come to that. We’ll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #330, so read on if you need a little help.
Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #330.
Today’s NYT Strands answer — Today’s theme and hints
The official theme for NYT Strands #330 is… “Viva Las Vegas”.
And here’s an unofficial hint from me: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em”.
If you’re still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens:
GAMER
MELT
JACKAL
BRAG
PART
SOLE
GLEE
Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with P and ends with L.
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Scroll down to find out what it is…
It’s GAMBLING.
Today’s Strands answers
So, what are today’s Strands answers for game #330?
Drumroll, please…
CRAPS
BLACKJACK
ROULETTE
POKER
SLOTS
BACCARAT
(Image credit: Alan Martin)
…and the spangram was GAMBLING.
Strands #330
“Viva Las Vegas”
Hi Strands fans. With a theme like “Viva Las Vegas”, today’s puzzle was always going to be about casino games, and thankfully I knew enough about them to complete the grid without hints.
I found CRAPS in the bottom-right corner, followed by BLACKJACK to its left. ROULETTE was in the middle of the board, with POKER just above it.
Importantly, this carved out a series of letters in a row that had to be the spangram, so I connected GAMBLING in a flattened horseshoe shape in the middle of the board.
Two answers were left to find. SLOTS was in the top left, which just left BACCARAT on the opposite side to complete the puzzle.
Yesterday’s Strands answers
Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday’s Strands answers for game #329 right here.
Are you ready to tackle the NYT Strands puzzle for today? Here are the hints, spangram, and answers for game #330 on Monday, January 27, 2025:
Hints:
1. A type of bird known for its beautiful singing voice.
2. A popular type of pasta often served with tomato sauce.
3. A small, round vegetable that is often used in salads.
Spangram:
T A R B E
R A P S G
B N A L I
E O T L U
Answers:
1. Robin
2. Spaghetti
3. Radish
Get your thinking caps on and see if you can unscramble these words in today’s NYT Strands puzzle! Good luck!
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The weekend is over so unfortunately this puzzle will not really correlate with your workday unless maybe you’re retired and bored.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s in beta for now, which means it’ll only stick around if enough people play it every day.
There’s a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and you’ll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.
You’ll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links two opposite sides of the board. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.
Be warned: You’ll need to be on your toes.
“Some themes are fill-in-the-blank phrases. They may also be steps in a process, items that all belong to the same category, synonyms or homophones,” The New York Times notes. “Just as she varies the difficulty of Wordle puzzles within a week, [Wordle and Strands editor Tracy] Bennett plans to throw Strands solvers curveballs every once in a while.”
What Is Today’s Strands Hint?
The NYT hint is first and kind of gives it away this week so I’m not even sure you need mine:
Viva Las Vegas
Mine is:
Jackpot
I think you’ll pick up this one pretty quickly.
What Are Today’s Strands Answers?
The spangram is below as spoilers begin, then the answer list after that.
GAMBLING
And where you find it:
Strands
NYT
And the answer list is below:
SLOTS
CRAPS
BACCARAT
ROULETTE
BLACKJACK
POKER
Strands
NYT
This one was a speedrun for me today, zero hints and got it in under a minute. Maybe you did just as well, but if so, maybe you’re not here at all. This is a rare list that is both easy to understand and they actually list like the first six things you would ever think of, all the major casino games for the most part. What do you think is missing here?
Welcome to the NYT ‘Strands’ Hints, Spangram, and Answers for Monday, January 27th! Here, you will find all the clues and solutions you need to conquer today’s puzzle. So grab a cup of coffee and let’s get solving!
Hints:
1. Start by looking for common prefixes and suffixes in the words
2. Pay attention to the number of letters in each word to help narrow down possibilities
3. Use the provided letters to create shorter words that may lead to the longer solution
Spangram: L, I, T, N, E, D, A
Answers:
1. TIN
2. LIT
3. DINE
4. DATE
5. TILED
6. NAILED
Happy solving!
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NYT Strands hints January 27, Spangram answers, SEO-friendly tags, crossword puzzle, Monday puzzle solutions, New York Times crossword, word game strategies
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections puzzle made me laugh. The blue category is one of those “name all the items that can possibly be in this group” types of answers. The purple group is also fun, for fans of a certain horror movie and book. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. And players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest, yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Hey, everyone! Welcome to the start of a new week.
I took in my first concert of the year over the weekend (not counting a mediocre Linkin Park tribute band in early January). I had never seen Sum 41 live before and since this is their farewell tour, it was going to be my only chance.
The show was terrific, even if I didn’t know as many Sum 41 songs as I thought. Full of energy, great connection with the crowd and fun music.
I went in thinking I would film a short clip of the guitar solo from “In Too Deep,” which is one of my favorite solos of all time. But during the show, as I looked around and saw many people filming snippets to post on Instagram or TikTok or whatever, I realized just how fed up I am of living life through my phone. I kept it in my pocket and enjoyed the moment. I can always watch bits of the show again on someone else’s YouTube channel if I’m so inclined.
Before we get going, I’ve started a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYTConnections hints and answers for Monday, January 27, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the 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…
OLIVE
TYPEWRITER
EXTRA
SAMPLE
BARK
BITE
AXE
SCALES
TWINS
OIL
SHELL
VIRGIN
TASTE
HEDGE MAZE
SKIN
MOUTHFUL
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
Yellow group — a nibble
Green group — keeping flora and fauna safe
Blue group — a Rachael Ray fave
Purple group — “tricycle” and “elevator” would fit in here
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
Yellow group — small amount of food to try
Green group — protective coverings in nature
Blue group — “extra virgin olive oil”
Purple group — seen in The Shining
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 — small amount of food to try (BITE, MOUTHFUL, SAMPLE, TASTE)
Green group — protective coverings in nature (BARK, SCALES, SHELL, SKIN)
Blue group — “extra virgin olive oil” (EXTRA, VIRGIN, OLIVE, OIL)
Purple group — seen in The Shining (AXE, HEDGE MAZE, TWINS, TYPEWRITER)
This is getting ridiculous now. I’m up to a dozen straight perfect games and a 15-game win streak. Here’s how I fared:
I had a few immediate thoughts about potential red herrings. Putting BARK and BITE next to each other probably ruled those out as a duo. For a moment, I figured the presence of OIL meant that OLIVE and VIRGIN likely wouldn’t match up. But wait… we have EXTRA on the grid too. I do love me some EVOO, and thus I had the blues. (I put the words in the proper order in my answers, not alphabetically.)
The straightforward yellows were up next. The grid then handily bunched together what I thought were the greens on the right side of the remaining grid. That meant the purples were on the left and, of course, I was able to figure out that connection. “Redrum,” indeed. That left the greens for yet another perfect game to kick off this week.
A couple more stray thoughts: I did suspect briefly that AXE would have more to do with the deodorant, given the spelling. I also wondered for a second if HEDGE MAZE and OLIVE would go together as part a group of green stuff, but nope!
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Tuesday’s game if you need them.
Instead, let’s get back to some music. My song recommendations have skewed very much in the direction of rock. That’s where my tastes typically lie, but I love all kinds of music! Not so much country or very hardcore EDM, but all kinds!
To that end, I think it’s time to shake things up. I’ll try to only recommend dance/house songs this week, unless I can’t resist popping in something that’s relevant to a particular game. So, here’s “It Feels So Good” by Sonique, an anthem from (gosh) the year 2000:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
Looking for some hints and answers for the New York Times crossword puzzle “Connections” for Monday, January 27th? Look no further! Here are some clues to help you solve this tricky puzzle:
1. Across: “___ and ends” (miscellaneous items) – ODDS
2. Across: “___-Tiki” (1961 film) – ADVENTURES
3. Across: “___ of the tongue” (slip-up) – SLIP
4. Down: “___-fi” (genre of futuristic fiction) – SCI
5. Down: “___ of the line” (top-quality) – CREAM
Hopefully, these hints will help you fill in the blanks and complete the puzzle. Happy solving!
Tags:
NYT Connections, Monday January 27, NYT crossword hints, NYT crossword answers, Monday crossword solutions, NYT crossword clues, crossword puzzle help
Interesting puzzle today that will test your knowledge of a particular type of science which you may or may not be familiar with, which may make this easy or hard.
How To Play Strands
The New York Times’ Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. It’s in beta for now, which means it’ll only stick around if enough people play it every day.
There’s a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and you’ll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.
You’ll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links two opposite sides of the board. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.
Be warned: You’ll need to be on your toes.
“Some themes are fill-in-the-blank phrases. They may also be steps in a process, items that all belong to the same category, synonyms or homophones,” The New York Times notes. “Just as she varies the difficulty of Wordle puzzles within a week, [Wordle and Strands editor Tracy] Bennett plans to throw Strands solvers curveballs every once in a while.”
What Is Today’s Strands Hint?
The official NYT hint is more clever than the hint that I will give you below that, but I want to give you that extra boost:
Ore so they say
Mine is:
Minerals
Yeah mine is a little more straightforward there
What Are Today’s Strands Answers?
The spangram is below and then we will move on to the full list of answers, so spoilers ahead:
PUREMETAL
And where you find it:
Strands
NYT
And the answer list:
TITANIUM
IRON
ALUMINUM
NICKEL
COBALT
CADMIUM
Strands
NYT
So, a few common metals, a few more rare like cadmium. I had trouble looping around the letters for aluminum for a minute there as the path through was just a touch confusing. There are a lot of metals that could have gone in here, so even if you know a bunch, finding them would be a bit of a challenge depending on what you were looking for.
Welcome to our weekly feature where we provide hints, spangram, and answers for The New York Times crossword puzzle, also known as “Strands”. Below are the hints for the Sunday puzzle on January 26, as well as the spangram and answers:
Hints:
1. Seize suddenly
2. Large monolithic statues
3. Unheated buildings
4. Actress Thurman
5. “___, Myself and Irene” (2000 comedy film)
6. Types of beans
7. Ski lift
8. Part of a play
9. Small biting insect
10. Prefix meaning “half”
