Check for answers? Here’s where. We keep daily hints handy for The New York Times Connections. The Mini Crossword, too. Wordle. Even that niche Sports Edition variant. Strands. It’s all there if you click through.
Music today? Lots of it. Dangerous kind of lots. Many words look musical at first glance. Then they aren’t. Read on if you’re stuck. The puzzle is a trap, really. Or maybe just a riddle.
The Bot Watch
Did you know the Times runs a Connections Bot? Just like the Wordle one. You play. It judges you. Specifically, it spits out a numeric score. A harsh one, sometimes. It analyzes your choices with cold efficiency. If you’re registered, you can track stats. Nerd out, essentially. Watch your win streaks. Count the perfect games. Stare at the loss ratio until it hurts.
Progress tracking is basically just anxiety with better UI.
Need strategies? We have tips for that elsewhere. Just look.
Hints, Ranked
We rank these from easy (Yellow) to brutal (Purple).
Yellow : Cheers. Think drinks.
Green : Fix the wording. Adjust that. It’s about tinkering.
Blue : Talk like a conductor. Or a director. Use the right vocabulary.
Purple : This is where it gets weird. Hidden words. They mean “right now!” Or ASAP. Good luck finding the “now.”
The Answers
Yellow is glassware.
Coupe.
Flute.
Stein.
Tumbler.
Standard bar items. Boring but correct.
Green means mess around.
Fiddle.
Mess.
Play.
Tinker.
Phrasal verbs hiding in plain sight. “Fiddle with” this. “Mess with” that.
Blue gives us music directions.
Allegro.
Forte.
Largo.
Piano.
These are the red herrings from the intro, apparently? No, these are the answers. The other music words are traps. Watch out for that bassoon.
Purple. The endgame.
Ending in “ASAP.”
Bassoon. Ends in -soon.
Belfast. Ends in -fast.
Nesquick. Ends in -quick.
Thermostat. Ends in -stat (wait, is “stat” ASAP? Yes. It’s medical shorthand, but close enough for puzzle logic).
The connections hold together. Mostly. Does a thermostat really mean “soon”? Debatable.
We leave the rest to you. Maybe you prefer the mess. Or the music. Who cares? Go drink something from that coupe. 🍷
