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 clues.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
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 #543) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- APPLE
- LIME
- YELLOW
- FACE
- NOSE
- FRONT
- RHINE
- AMAZON
- SURFACE
- GIFT
- ORACLE
- BRIM
- INSTINCT
- INTUIT
- OUTSIDE
- FLAIR
NYT Connections today (game #543) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Natural gift
- Green: Outsiders
- Blue: Silicon Valley
- Purple: Think like a rock
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 #543) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: APTITUDE
- GREEN: EXTERIOR
- BLUE: TECH COMPANIES
- PURPLE: __STONE
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #543) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #543, are…
- YELLOW: APTITUDE FLAIR, GIFT, INSTINCT, NOSE
- GREEN: EXTERIOR FACE, FRONT, OUTSIDE, SURFACE
- BLUE: TECH COMPANIES AMAZON, APPLE, INTUIT, ORACLE
- PURPLE: __STONE BRIM, LIME, RHINE, YELLOW
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 3 mistakes
Today’s lesson from NYT? Don’t ignore what’s in FRONT of your FACE.
I got BLUE first today, but it cost me a mistake. My first thought whenever I see the word APPLE is the popular purveyor of laptops and phones. However, seeing it alongside LIME, I initially wondered if I should be considering pies — there’s also FACE Pie, but where is the pesky fourth word? Intuit doesn’t fit with pies but they are the company behind QuickBooks, so maybe this is a tech answer after all — sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one.
It took me three attempts to get GREEN — mainly overthinking that I was looking for words connected to boxes or packaging. From here I used my natural GIFT for random guesswork to land YELLOW and shamefully clicked on the remaining four tiles without knowing what the theme was — despite RHINEstone Cowboy being one of my favorite songs. Not my finest 15 minutes.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 4 December, game #542)
- YELLOW: STEER DIRECT, GUIDE, LEAD, SHEPHERD
- GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S COMPASS, PINE TREE, SEWING KIT, TURNTABLE
- BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH ATLAS, ECHO, HELEN, PAN
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR LAVATORY CANDLE, JOHNSON, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES
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.